


Ace High

by Aurya



Category: Final Fantasy Type-0
Genre: Alternate spiral, Gen, Major background spoilers, Minimal character run
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-06 02:32:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18841837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurya/pseuds/Aurya
Summary: High card: the lowest possible type of poker hand, in which no recognized patterns are present. Identified by the highest-ranking card in the hand, i.e. "ace high".





	1. Cae. XXV, 841

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been in a Fabula Nova Crystallis mood for a couple weeks now. Finally got me to Orience, and I have an idea for that I've written an outline for and never got around to writing in full, so I'm gonna put it to use.
> 
> As the tags and name should clue you into, this is not gonna start off pretty and nor is it going to end nicely. You were warned.

**00:01**

The remote training facility of Akademeia, under the purview of the external branch of Sorcery, was nearly silent... or was at least trying to be. The date had only just turned on the morn of Yule, and the facility's residents - twelve children belonging to Rubrum's Agito Cadet Class Zero - were each trying to make their individual way to the lounge, where lay a festively-decorated tree and presents that they and their mother had gotten for each other.

Each child's goal was the same: to reach the lounge before Mother woke up. In the past, for as long as they had been at this facility together, none of them had succeeded; no matter how quietly they advanced, how early they were awake, Mother was always waiting for them with a smile. Some tried to blame this on the fact that there were a total of three entrances to the lounge, meaning that they always arrived in groups and therefore their stealth was mitigated.

But this year was different; for as eleven of the children arrived, in three groups as per the norm, they found the twelfth standing before Mother's usual seat, something in his hand.

"Ace?" Deuce's query drew his attention, and he turned to find his Classmates having arrived. "You got here before Mother did? Where is she?"

In response, Ace raised the item in his hand - a letter, though small enough to be mistaken for one of his cards from a quick look. "I got here and found this. Mother's back at the dominion. Said we could go ahead with Yule or wait for her to get back."

"Oh, come on, yo," Nine objected. "Like we're gonna do this without her."

"Agreed," Queen confirmed. "Let's head outside, we can welcome her back when we see her get close."

There was a chorus of further agreement, and the twelve of them made their way outdoors. The moonlight was shining down on the water around the facility, giving a lovely view; everyone found a comfortable seat - near enough to someone they could stand to make small-talk with and far enough away from those they couldn't to avoid annoying anyone - and waited for Mother's airship to arrive.

Over an hour passed as they waited, and some of the cadets were starting to feel drowsy when Ace noticed something in the water.

A patch of red, slowly expanding - and beneath it, a strange figure.

"What the...?"

* * *

**01:42**

Arecia Al-Rashia moored her personal airship cruiser at the Akademeia landing, stepping out and lighting the cigarette on her holder as she did. Akademeia was serene at this hour, and a less busy mind might have taken her time to admire the sights; but Arecia was here on task, and so did not hesitate to make her way into the main building. The magic portal took her to the hallway outside the meeting room for the Consortium of Eight - a second layer of security so that anyone who deceived the portal into putting them here still couldn't just barge in without warning - and as she stepped in, she called out with a familiar tone.

"Sorry I'm la-"

Her utterance fell quiet as she realized the room was empty.

Confused, Arecia stepped inside, circling the table. "...Am I the first one here?"

Someone stepped into the room behind her, and she turned to find Khalia Chival VI stepping in. He was clearly not dressed for consul, and seemed surprised to find the Archsorceress standing there. "Doctor Arecia," he greeted. "What brings you here?"

"Chancellor Khalia," Arecia returned. "Did you not send for me?"

"Why would I call for you?" Khalia inquired. "It's Yule. It's  **barely** Yule, what's more. There's been no activity to merit a gathering."

Arecia's gaze narrowed. "I received a message from you.  _Urgent developments in motion; come to Akademeia immediately._ "

There was a moment of concerned silence as she took a drag from her cigarette; then Khalia turned, seizing the doors and closing them firmly - as he tended to when he needed discuss sensitive matters with the Archsorceress.

"Doctor Arecia," he mused, turning to face her again. "Might it be that the message you received was deliberate deception, by someone who wished to remove you from the remote training facility?"

Arecia lowered her cigarette. "Who might have cause to remove me?" she asked. "The only people who know of the facility's location are those in the external Sorcery branch, and they are sworn to cooperate. No one else in Sorcery knows where it is, no one else in Akademeia knows it exists, and few in Rubrum even know that Class Zero is-"

"Few who are mortal, perhaps," Khalia interrupted.

Those words drew Arecia's gaze to widen.

"But... I suspect a servant of Divine Pulse might have more knowledgeable foes."

Her grip faltered on her cigarette holder, causing it to clatter to the ground.

Khalia nodded. "Go," he insisted. "No one else will be in any useful consciousness at this hour, you need not be subtle."

"Shit..."

Arecia turned, and her body was wrapped in a twisted light as she vanished.

* * *

**02:03**

The roar of the arriving airship barely registered in Ace's ears. The shore of the facility was stained with blood, carved with blade scars; Ace himself, knelt and hunched over with tears trailing down his face, was wounded and covered in blood.

A hand seized his shoulder, and his card was halfway raised before he recognized Mother standing there.

"Ace!" Arecia glanced around. "What happened here? Did someone attack? Where are the others...?"

She fell quiet as Ace closed his eyes, and as he spoke, he was visibly fighting to get the words out. "S-Something... came from the water," he struggled. "It was huge... covered in armour... It attacked us. I was the only one... who was able to stay away. It killed everyone. King... Queen... Jack... Nine... Eight... Seven... Sice... Cinque... Cater... Trey... Deuce..."

Arecia's eyes widened. "How do you...?"

Weakly, Ace lowered his card - and Arecia saw, upon its surface, an image of Deuce.

The tears began to flow in earnest; without a word, Arecia put her arms around him, holding him close. Cure magic began to flow from her hands, washing over his body and working to heal his wounds, and quietly, she began to sing.

" _Walk on, wandering souls..._  
_For your respite we pray..._  
_Let our humble song clear your hearts of dismay..._  
_Rekindle the flame in your souls and set you free..._  
_So walk on and become the light that guides the way..._ "

* * *

**XX:XX**

"Mother!"

A crimson palace, painted in the blood of the populations of hundreds of millions of lifetimes. It was here - outside the reach of mortals - that Arecia found herself approached by a hooded figure; a girl in a dishevelled cloak, not unlike that worn by the legionnaires of the Dominion of Rubrum.

"Tiz." Arecia's tone was carefully measured - that of one who was not presently in the mood, but would not turn her down when she was. "Whatever it is, it can wait."

"I know what happened," Tiz proclaimed. "To the others. It was Gala."

"Yes, that would be where I'm going now," Arecia proclaimed, turning away.

"No," Tiz insisted, "it was Gala  _himself._ He stepped out of the ocean, and struck them down. In person."

Arecia turned to face her. "What? Why would he do this?"

"He's become frustrated with the experiment," Tiz replied. "He thinks that his method is failing because they keep limiting the Rursus. By all indications, a sufficient flood of souls  _should_ be enough to breach the gate... but Rubrum always resists because of their choice."

"He killed them, because he lacks the patience to try again?" Arecia protested.

Tiz shook her head. "It's not just that," she admitted. "He believes that... you're drawing the experiment out for your own purposes."

"Excuse me?"

"When it started, you were just as detached as he was." Tiz had taken on something of a confronting tone. "A lone soul wasn't enough, so you brought on fifteen more. When some of the sixteen proved unsatisfactory, you cast them aside one by one. Since then, you've nurtured the remaining twelve time and again, trying to perfect the craft." Then, with a shake of her head; "But because of what you're trying to do, you need to spend time with them. Gala feels that you're growing too attached to them, and it's affecting your performance."

Arecia turned her gaze on Tiz. "And what of you?"

"Mother, please," Tiz protested. "I've made my opinion of the spiral clear already. I don't approve of the experiment, but I can't stop you from continuing with it. But for them to die because of Gala's dissatisfaction... it's not right."

With a sigh, Arecia made to step past her... and then stopped. "How does he remember the others?"

"He forced himself to hold on to the memories, while they were still clinging to life," Tiz replied. "The Ice Reaper has done the same thing for the past thousand turns or so. Memories are contained within the flesh, as well as the heart and mind; through it, a determined soul can keep their memories before they're lost."

There was not another word between them; Arecia continued down her path, and Tiz turned away with a quiet sigh.


	2. Aqu. XII, 842

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning, this story is not gonna have a lot of chapters. Anything that doesn't have significant differences because of the premise is going to be glossed over, I'm sure you can fill in the blanks.
> 
> Am I the only one who thinks that phase 2 of the Qun'mi fight during the liberation should've had her on foot? I mean, maybe make it clear that she got wounded when Ninetail went down because, you know, Incognitus can one-shot a Golem-class Eidolon so Secundus are still not to be messed with, but still, she should've gotten a personal fight.

**10:42**

"I know he came here! Where is he?"

Among the scant uses for the rubble that results from aerial bombardment, Izana was rather less-than-proud to admit that 'cover' was the one he used most often. Walls had been shattered around the Vermilion Bird Gate, and as several soldiers in the colours of the White Tiger tried to hunt down the trainee they had caught a glimpse of, he was hiding within a pile of rubble, just loose enough for him to crawl into or out of - though not with a great deal of mobility, which made escaping to seize the sword he had dropped behind him a terrible idea.

All he could do was pray that the Militesi didn't see it - yet it seemed the Crystals were loathe to answer his prayer, for before long he heard one of the soldiers announce to the others; "Wait, that's a blade!"

"He's gotta be near... Where is he?"

 _Dammit..._ Izana hunched down.  _Ace... Where are you?_

A sudden blast, and the scream of a man set alight; as Izana raised his gaze through his narrow window of view, a figure landed just before him, and then a cape of crimson settled behind it before it turned around.

"Izana?!"

"Ace!" Izana forced his way back out of the rubble, picking up his sword in the process. "You made it."

"So did you." Ace was clearly relieved to see him. "Wish the mission I'd invited you on didn't turn out like this."

"What did you have planned?" Izana accused.

"Something a little closer to Petramens, actually," Ace admitted.

With a chuckle, Izana held out his hand. "Here. Dominion COMM. Put it around your ear, and tap it to turn it on."

Ace accepted the device - a small, flexible length in dominion red. It hooked on the top of his ear gently, then circled around to rest within the cavity; as he tapped it, it lit up briefly (not that he had a good look at it), and after a moment a gruff voice came through.  _"_ _Class Zero, respond."_

"Class Zero here," Ace proclaimed.

_"Good. The COMM arrived safely. Is Izana Kunagiri still with you?"_

"He is."

_"Remain together until you reach a place of safety. I'm Kurasame. I'll be your CO. Your objective: locate the empire's crystal jammer, then neutralize it to restore the Crystal."_

"Understood."

_"May the Crystal guide you."_

Ace turned to Izana. "You have any idea where they've got their jammer?"

"They dropped a huge MA in the arena," Izana admitted, "and everyone else's magic went out pretty much right after. But they've also got a flagship moored in the airship docking bay..." His gaze fell. "Which is actually pretty close, come to think of it."

"Then let's make our way to the nearest branch," Ace suggested, "and hope someone else has information before we get there."

He raised his hand as his weapon appeared in it - and the sight of the weapon caught Izana off-guard. "Is that... a card?" he asked. "You use a card?"

"Is that weird?" Ace asked.

"Just seems a little i..."

A swarm of footfalls from nearby drew Ace's attention, and he turned in a rush as several Militesi soldiers approached them. With a swing of his arms, hand after hand of cards soared forward, bombarding the imperials - and hitting hard enough to have them trying to raise their weapons before the onslaught knocked them to the ground. As each card struck something - whether a soldier, a weapon, or the ground or walls - it vanished in a flash of light, which by all appearances was responsible for the impact of each.

As the last few flying cards hit the ground, one more appeared in Ace's grip, and he turned to Izana. "Excuse me, were you going to say 'impractical'?"

"Mmmno," Izana denied.

"No?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely not. I've revised that whole... thing."

* * *

Cadet and trainee made their way through the path to the Vermilion Bird Gate, sword and card in hand. As they arrived at the Terraced Square, scattered with legionary corpses, several Militesi troopers aimed rifles at them, but Ace only dragged Izana behind cover before charging forward, cards flying and Fire blazing.

As the last of them fell, Izana rose to his feet, sword at the ready. "How can you still use magic with that jammer running?"

Ace turned to him. "Well, I'm not totally-"

He cut himself off with a start; the bodies around him - imperial and dominion alike - began to lift up as though Ace were preparing to harvest their phantoma. But he was doing nothing of the sort; the trails of crimson were extended heavenward, and the sunlight shining down was blackened out as something descended over the square. Ace and Izana both turned their gaze skyward at the sight of something shrouded and avian, and with bursts of blood, the phantoma was ripped out of the bodies around them, soaring up towards the creature flying there.

"How did it-!?"

"No way," Izana exclaimed. "Is that... Nox Suza-"

A burst of flame soared from the flying creature, and both of them realized too late where it was going.

" ** _Izana-!_** "

The fire made contact with the trainee, and he began to scream only to fall silent in the same instant; the force of the spell killed him before he had time to writhe, and his sword, released as he perished, had not even gone quiet in its clatter before he hit the ground. Then another trail of crimson connected him to the flying creature, and his phantoma was torn from him as well.

 _Such powerful magic!_ Ace didn't dare to stay out in the open; as the next burst of flame soared from the creature, he leapt towards what appeared to be a blood-soaked, disabled MA, taking cover behind it. He heard another fire soar - then he  _felt_ something connect with his cover, and a yell of pain escaped him as the sharp corners of the Militesi machine dug into him from all sides. As soon as it went still, he quickly charged out from his cover; the next flame soared towards him, and he dove aside before it could make contact, turning to face his attacker and raising his card defiantly.

Then, light; the creature vanished, taking its darkness with it.

_It just ran away..._

Ace's gaze went to the square before him; the sword that the trainee had dropped was still lying there. "How did it...?" With a growl, he reached for his forehead.  _I swear the Crystal takes our memories to stop us from killing people we interrogate. We were talking. Right before it came. Right before he died, I said his name! What was it?_ He shook his head.  _And where were we going? Dammit_ _..._

He stepped forward and seized the fallen blade; then he impaled it in the square, where its wielder had vanished, before continuing up to the central lift.

* * *

**13:21**

_"Class Zero, do you read me?"_

The voice over the COMM as Ace arrived at Rubrum Square brought his paces to a halt - though the half-dead Bahamut in the northwest corner could probably take some of the credit.  _"This is Intel. We've located part of the jamming device that's affecting Rubrum. It's inside the Militesi flagship in the airship docking bay. Head there immediately."_

"Understood," Ace responded into the line; and with a brief glimpse at the signs in the square, he charged out the east exit, toward the docking bay.

'Class Zero', the dominion was calling over the COMM. 'Class Zero', as though the class had more than one cadet. Mother had confidence in him; she was certain Ace would perform admirably, even on his own, and do the legendary vermilion cape proud. But more than that, he wanted to remember his fallen classmates - that he would fight all the harder in their stead.

He  _did_  remember his fallen classmates - his siblings - and that was a feat he didn't expect to achieve again. The other cadets in Class Zero had helped him; as they had lain on the beach, bleeding from the wounds that armoured monster had inflicted, dying of pain that no amount of Cure magic would heal, they had added their own magic to his, and set into his cards his memories of them. And in holding those cards as they had passed, the memories had stayed with him.

And if the Crystal would try to take those memories from him, the Crystal could go shatter.

* * *

**14:12**

"This sucks. Same old routine. Try something  _new!_ "

As the White Tiger l'Cie uttered those words, the eyes of her mask lit up; the magitek armour behind her extended its tails, a surge of power rushing out from it. Machina charged forward with his bolt rapiers in hand, making to impale her on his right-hand blade - but as he neared, the shaft seemed to  _fragment before him_ , and he was left staring in terror at the drifting pieces before the l'Cie drove her heel into his stomach, throwing him to the ground.

She appeared at his side as he landed, and Machina couldn't move before she lifted one foot and drove it into his chest, leaving him gasping for air.

Her voice was bitter as she looked down on him. "Let's end this right now."

One more stomp to elicit another cry of terror; then she vanished from before him. The soldiers around the arena had been standstill while the l'Cie had her fun, but at her prompting they all levelled their weapons towards Rem or else lowered them towards Machina, ready to finish them off.

Which meant nobody was looking up.

"Now then- huh!?"

A flurry of narrow shapes soared through the air, striking the soldiers bordering the arena - cards trailed by dominion magic - and a blast of Fire soared over the edge of the arena and slammed into the trooper immediately before the MA. Rem turned in astonishment as someone leapt from that edge - a figure in a cadet uniform, no different than hers or Machina's, and with a flourish he landed between her and the nearest soldier, lashing a card across his neck before his momentum had died out.

One soldier raised his rifle towards him - but he hadn't pulled the trigger before the card that had driven into his arm, not having vanished, shone with a different light, and he yelled in pain as a katana manifested in his arm, slicing off everything past the elbow and taking his gun with it. Another, with a card in his torso, had a narrow sword appear through his chest, running him through in an instant, and still another, with a card in the back of his neck, had it suddenly replaced with a broad-bladed lance that took his head clean off.

Machina had managed to right himself amid the commotion, and now charged towards the card-wielder as the troopers tried to fire at them; the newcomer stepped aside as he dashed past, taking Rem's hand as they made to take cover at the edge of the arena. One soldier, brandishing an RPG, made to fire at them; the intruding cadet quickly raised his hand, manifesting a Wall in the path of the rocket, and though the blast shattered his defense, it left enough smoke in its wake that the soldiers hesitated to fire again.

Ace hurled a card at each of the fallen soldiers, and as each touched a weapon that he had manifested, it vanished for him to invoke it against another day; then he thrust his hand forward as the smoke began to clear, and a summoning circle appeared before him, bringing with it a light so bright as to earn a yell of pain from each of the soldiers, and one over the MA's speakers from its pilot.

When the light faded, a massive six-legged horse stood there, and upon it, a titanic three-eyed swordsman, brandishing a lance.

The l'Cie screeched through the MA's mic, indignant.  _"They summoned **here -** inside my jammer field?! How!?_"

Rem was equally astonished by the summoning despite the crystal jammer - but more astonishing still was the fact that the card-flinging cadet was  _still standing_ despite the summoning. "What the-?"

He turned to her. "He said it was a 'special Eidolon'. Not something they let you summon whenever... but desperate times, right?"

Then he turned to Odin, swinging his free hand forward. "Slice them clean in two!"

The Eidolon slammed its lance to the earth, and flame wrapped it, transforming it into a hard-edged blade. Then he drew the new weapon, swinging it forward once, and an expanding ring of force lunged forward, tearing through the soldiers before the MA. With a yell over the speakers, the MA shifted, twisting over; its cockpit rotated, forming an almost foxlike head, four prongs of landing gear emerged from its underside as it took a firm stance upon the ground, and the tails of the jammer ring aimed themselves at Odin threateningly as a darkness gathered around the head of his blade.

Then Sleipnir charged forward - and Odin's blade moved as he did, tearing the MA in two in an instant. The jammer ring was torn from the base of the MA, slamming to the floor of the arena with its tails coming apart, and the MA spouted oil in all directions as it fell apart; its cockpit seemed to be torn completely from the body, tumbling to the ground.

Odin demanifested once the MA had gone still; the newcomer let his card vanish, turning to Rem and Machina. "You two alright?"

"Who are you?" Machina asked. Then, as the adrenaline faded and he got a good look at the newcomer's mantle; "That red cloak...!"

Rem double-took as she registered what she was seeing. "No way..."

A scrape of metal snapped Ace's gaze around; the cockpit was being forced open, and from it emerged the bemasked pilot. She looked none the worse for wear, despite her MA having been on the receiving end of a  _Zantetsuken_ ; she turned her attention on Ace, who quickly raised his card in defiance.

A light manifested over the pilot's right shoulder, expanding into the unmistakeable pattern of a l'Cie brand as the eyes of her mask shone; she raised her hand, and for a moment the MA behind her stirred; but the jammer ring remained immobile, and she lowered her hand with a growl.

With a low sigh, Ace's fingers moved, spreading a hand of cards in his grip and holding them out before him.

The l'Cie huffed, swinging her hand before her, and a green light trailed from her fingertips. "This sucks."

She charged forward, her body moving at unnatural speeds; Ace hurled a hand of cards at her, but the l'Cie only swung her hand through them, beating the projectiles aside. As she neared, she lashed a hand towards him, fingers poised like a couerl's claws; Ace leapt aside, vanishing into an array of cards and reappearing behind her before throwing a card into her shoulder and leaping away.

With a growl, the l'Cie spun round to face him; Ace flung a Fire RF towards her, but she only moved her hand through it, dispersing the flames as easily as if she were wiping away mud. Ace flicked a card into the air, wrapping it in a red light that suspended it above his head, as the l'Cie charged towards him; when she drew near enough to strike him, he ducked under the swipe of claws, slamming a card into her forearm before leaping away.

Another card was flicked skyward, and the l'Cie started to charge him again - but the cards in her shoulder and arm were wrapped in light, and she yelled as they were replaced by much sharper weapons; a weighty scythe appeared hooked across her right shoulder, and a flexible length covered in blades manifested in a knot around her left arm, with its tip impaled in her and its handle dangling free.

It wasn't dangling enough to hinder her; she beat the blade of the scythe off her shoulder and lunged towards Ace once more. Cards trailed his hand as he twisted into a spin, meeting her lash of claws on the one in his grip - only for it to be knocked away, and her next strike raked down his chest. With a yell, Ace leapt away, leaving her next swing passing through air; another skyward flick before she made to close the gap, and then he leapt towards  _her_ , vanishing in an array that her claws swiped through ineffectively and reappearing behind her for a hand of cards that bombarded her from behind.

"Dammit!" The l'Cie whirled around to face Ace, who flicked one more card into the air. "Wriggly little shit!"

Ace glanced up at his cards and was surprised to find they were all wrapped in the same red glow. "Wow, I never get this lucky."

The l'Cie charged him again; Ace swept his hand above him, gathering his cards, then brought his hands together and thrust them forward - and a massive explosion struck the l'Cie from all directions. It had enough force to knock her off-balance, but when the afterburst cleared she seemed none the worse for wear, and Ace's heart sank as she drew back her left arm to swipe at him.

It halted when the length around her arm went taught; a yell of surprise emerged from the l'Cie, and she snapped her gaze around. The blue-caped cadet was standing there, hands on the whipblade's handle; he had enough of a grounding to stop her one-handed swing, and rather than try to wrench the arm free, the l'Cie brought her right hand around with her claws poised.  _That_ attack was halted when the pink-caped cadet charged in from the side, a pair of daggers in her grip on which the l'Cie's swipe was met; when she tried to struggle against it, the blue-cape pulled one hand from the whipblade and poised it behind her daggers, causing one of his bolt rapiers to appear against it and provide extra resistance.

Ace used the distraction while he had it; he hurled a single card in an overhead arc, and as it approached the l'Cie's head it was wrapped in light and replaced with a heavy-headed mace.

The weapon slammed into the l'Cie's head with an unpleasant amount of force; she seemed to  _crumple_ against the blow, and the two cadets pulled away as she fell to the ground. Her tiger mask fell off in mid-tumble, and long platinum-blonde hair obscured her face; after a moment, the cadets dismissed their weapons, and Ace hurled a card each at the mace, whipblade, and scythe to let them vanish for later use.

"You just took on a l'Cie," the blue-cape accused.

"So did you," Ace countered.

The pink-cape giggled lightly. "I suppose we did, now."

Movement; everyone stumbled back as the l'Cie's hand reached forward, seizing the fallen mask. "This... sucks..."

Everyone's hands reached out to draw their weapons, but the l'Cie was wrapped in a green light and seemed to vanish, and after a long moment it was clear that she was not about to reappear in the arena.


	3. Aqu.-Gla., 842

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, a couple different events that need to be covered between the liberation and a certain event in Glacemens. I hope this is a one-off thing, but if not, this format is gonna be the regular.
> 
> Needed stuff from the first break of the game and had to begin a new save (I was in the middle of Togoreth when I started this fic). Turns out I can handle the game well enough to beat the Akademeia liberation on Agito difficulty from the starting level (and yes I mean that I never triggered the Life Armlet).

**Aqu. XIV, 842  
09:02**

"Down this hall here?"

Ace pushed the doors open on the west end of the Akademeia entryway and found what amounted to a small antechamber, just large enough to host the doors' swinging; there was another, smaller pair of doors just beyond. With a disdainful roll of his eyes, he closed the larger doors behind him and opened the smaller ones; now he found himself at a four-way intersection of a hallway... and someone was waiting for him here.

"Mother," Ace greeted.

Arecia smiled at him. "There you are, Ace," she greeted. "I've been waiting for you, darling. Before you officially register as a cadet, there's something I'd like you to know."

"Is something wrong, Mother?" Ace inquired.

"Akademeia is suspicious of a lone cadet serving as a class all his own," Arecia explained. "To put them at ease, two other cadets will be joining you in Class Zero. They may don the same crimson capes, but don't be fooled - they are nothing like you. Consider them... a couple extra pairs of hands, to help during missions. They've been shown how to harvest phantoma, and will follow your lead therefor, but they don't know what phantoma is - and I would prefer if they remained unaware. Can you do that for me, darling?"

"Of course, Mother," Ace assured her. "Thanks for the heads-up."

With a nod of her head, Arecia stepped out into the entrance hall, and Ace continued across and into the classroom.

In an instant did he forgive all unseen scrutinizers who were suspicious about a lone cadet serving as a class all his own. Had Class Zero still had all the members it had lost on Yule, this classroom would still have had **far** more empty seats than filled ones - fourty-eight chairs arrayed around sixteen desks set on layer-cake steps, facing a large blackboard at the far end. Four Classes Zero could have gathered in this classroom; if all the other classrooms were laid out similarly, and most chairs filled, Akademeia had a veritable army of Agito Cadets.

Uncertain, Ace stepped down the center stairway - and from a door on the right emerged a figure in a long coat of dark purple hues. His lower face was obscured by a mask of sorts; it had metal bracing it horizontally, but what lay between seemed to be cloth of some sort, implying it was hiding a disfigurement that would put off those he meant to be on kind terms with. His hair was a deep blue and cut short; stepping in behind him was what appeared to be a  _tonberry_ , and Ace quickly turned his attention back to the masked man, who seemed to be regarding him curiously.

"Class Zero, I presume?"

"More or less," Ace admitted, making the last few steps to level ground.

The masked man nodded. "I suspected as much. I am now your commanding officer, Kurasame."

Ace aimed a finger at him. "I know you," he mused. "Your voice was on the COMM during the liberation."

"Yes," Kurasame confirmed. "Henceforth, you will execute dominion missions under my command. When you have no assignment, you will live here at Akademeia with the other cadets."

"Makes more sense than the alternative," Ace mused.

Kurasame nodded. "Also..." He turned to the door he had come through. "Cadet Machina! Cadet Rem! Enter!"

The door opened, and two familiar figures stepped in; the cadets that Ace had aided in the arena, when he had faced the White Tiger l'Cie. They were both now wearing the vermilion mantles of Class Zero, and they seemed to recognize Ace as well; they regarded the otherwise-empty classroom for a moment before standing at attention.

"Two new cadets have been assigned Class Zero starting today," Kurasame informed him.

The boy nodded. "Machina Kunagiri," he introduced. "Hello."

"Rem Tokimiya," the girl followed. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm Ace."

Kurasame nodded. "Your time is yours until you receive further orders. I have high hopes for you. May the Crystal guide you."

He stepped from the classroom, leaving the three cadets to socialize; once he had left, Machina turned to face Ace. "Good to see you again," he greeted. "I wasn't expecting..."

"Such a small class?" Ace asked.

"That's a bit of an understatement, it is," Rem accused. "You mean the legendary Class Zero has been a single cadet all this time? My friends and I thought you were just one of Akademeia's urban legends, now, we did."

Ace sighed. "Only as of recently," he murmured.

"Sorry?"

"Nothing," Ace insisted. "Can I ask kind of a stupid question?"

"They told us we were joining Class Zero because nobody in the Class had spent very long in Akademeia," Machina assured him. "None of you questions are gonna be stupid."

Ace aimed a finger at the room around them. "Where are the  _other_ classrooms?"

"Did you see the magic portals lining the entrance hall?" Rem asked. "They connect to Classrooms First through Twelfth."

"Weren't there only six of them?" Ace observed. "How does that work?"

Machina reached for the clasp of his cape. "Everyone at Akademeia has an identifier that tells the portals which class you're part of, and where you're allowed to go," he explained. "If you step into a portal and ask it to take you where you're not allowed to go, it just doesn't respond."

Ace reached for his own clasp with a curious hum. "I guess that's one way to do it." He glanced around. "So what's to stop anyone from coming in here?"

Rem shook her head. "This one didn't used to be a classroom," she explained. "It was a meeting room that the COs would use sometimes. They spent all day renovating it for use as a classroom after they heard Class Zero was going to be at Akademeia, they did." She shook her head. "Anyways, cadets were never allowed in here before, so everyone stays well away out of habit. And, well..."

"Well, what?" Ace asked.

"The stories about Class Zero... don't paint you as reacting kindly to intrusion," Machina admitted.

Ace chuckled. "They might have a point."

* * *

**Ven. XXIII, 842**  
**03:26**

"I expected her to just reset the spiral."

To describe the events at Togoreth as 'disastrous' would sell them short. No sooner had the stronghold been reclaimed by the dominion forces than the Primus l'Cie of the White Tiger had arrived - and the Vermilion Bird Crystal had decided that the best course of action was to send its own Primus l'Cie to meet him. The Pax Codex had decried the use of l'Cie in military operations for this reason exactly; a clash between Primus l'Cie had rent the earth, devastated the area, and left only a burning crater in its wake.

Two figures now stood at the edge of that crater, before the sun had risen the day after the clash. One was dressed in a dishevelled cloak resembling that of dominion legionnaires, the hood raised to cast shadows over his face; the other was dressed in an outfit not unlike the uniform of Agito Cadets, albeit with a short black jacket rather than a coloured mantle, and a broad-brimmed hat to serve the same purpose as her companion's hood.

Upon the legionnaire's comment, the cadet only shook her head. "Gala did what he did because he believes that she's growing too attached to them," she proclaimed. "If she were to cut the spiral short, it would only prove his point. Mother decided to continue forth and see what happens." She turned to her companion. "If your experiment goes awry, and the aftermath gives you the opportunity to test a different theory, why not make the most of it rather than clean up immediately?"

The legionnaire turned to her. "She thinks Ace might be able to breach the gate on his own?"

The cadet shook her head. "No... I don't think that she does. But she did do something different, didn't she?" Her gaze drifted to Akademia, just scarcely visible past the mountain range between the Rubrum and Togoreth regions. "With the other two?"

"Tiz, come on." The legionnaire seemed unamused with her comment. "She deemed them unnecessary, just like she did with us, but she left them as part of the spiral. That just means she's got a pair of spare pieces. Don't you remember what happens in Tempestamens?"

"The war on two fronts." Tiz shook her head. "That wouldn't be reason enough. Class Zero only ever has an impact on Big Bridge. I think... she's testing a theory for a later spiral. She wants to see what impact they have on him, and whether that might change the group for another Finis."

"You think it might?"

"I hope it will."

After a quiet moment, her companion crossed his arms. "Alright. So what do we do in the meantime?"

"Three cadets instead of one is still a select few," Tiz mused. "We can't leave their survival up to chance. We keep them alive - behind the scenes. Just a few coincidences here and there, in the heat of a big mission. The train leaves the instant they're on board when they flee Ingram. Air support isn't occupied over Big Bridge. The dragons are ill during the assault on Mahamayuri." She turned to him. "Think we can do that, Lean?"

"...Yeah," Lean assured her. "That should be easy enough."

* * *

**Gla. XX, 842 RG**  
**20:48**

" _Walk on, wandering souls..._  
_For your respite we pray..._  
_Let our humble song clear your hearts of dismay..._  
_Rekindle the flame in your souls and set you free..._  
_So walk on and become the light that guides the way..."_

Curfew was nearing on Akademeia; Machina and Rem had spent much of the free day in Classroom Zero speaking with MOG, and as the late hour neared, they realized that Ace had stepped out into the back garden and had not come back inside. They found him in the cemetery; he was kneeling before the pillar in the center, which served as a silent epitaph to the dead who went unrealized. Several of his cards were spread out before him, and his song could be heard from the gate - though just barely, for he seemed to be struggling to speak.

The two stepped towards him. "Ace?"

Ace started at Machina's utterance, slowly turning to face them. "Machina... Rem..."

"It's almost curfew," Rem informed him. "We were worried about you, we..."

She trailed off as she got a good look at the cards before him; on each was the image of someone unfamiliar, but each was wearing an Agito Cadet uniform, and each wore the crimson of Class Zero. There were eleven cards lying there, each atop another; on one of those cards beneath, Rem could see the tip of a curved blade, and realized that those were the cards with which Ace would invoke other weapons in the heat of a trying battle.

"Who... are these people?" Machina asked.

Ace closed his eyes. "They were... my classmates," he replied. "My... brothers and sisters. Deuce... Trey... Cater... Cinque... Sice... Seven... Eight... Nine... Jack... Queen... King..." He shook his head. "I lost them all. On Yule of 841."

Rem was worried of what she might hear, but something pushed her to ask; "What happened to them?"

"Every Yule, Mother would be waiting for us," Ace explained. "We'd try to get to the tree before her, but no matter how quiet we were, how early we got there, she'd always beat us there, and greet us with a smile. Then, last Yule, she had left a note for us. She was needed here at Akademeia. We all decided we'd wait for her, this time. So we went outside, and waited for her airship to get back."

He drew one more card, this one with nothing on the face, and set it down within the arc of the other eleven. "While we were waiting... something came out of the water. Some kind of... monster, huge and covered in armour. It attacked us. I was the only one who managed to stay alive. King, and Cater, and Trey tried to attack it from a distance... Sice and Eight and Nine tried to attack it head-on... The others tried to run. But it didn't care. It struck us all down... it didn't even draw a weapon."

Machina's eyes widened. "You mean you... remember them?"

Ace nodded quietly. "It didn't... It didn't kill them, right away. It hurt them, it wounded them, it left them to die... but they weren't dead when it left. But no matter what I did, I couldn't heal them." He closed his eyes. "Deuce was... She was the one who... who asked me to. She asked me to remember them. So I... I gave them my cards... and they tried their best to help me remember."

He hunched over, setting his forehead against the ground. "And I do remember. I remember them crying as they died."

"A slow death is a sad thing."

Rem and Machina turned to see Kurasame stepping into the cemetery, approaching them. "It's one thing for a life to be taken quickly - so quickly that you don't even realize it's done until you see the corpse. But when you're wounded, and can't be healed, then you can't do anything to defy it. You're left to wait for death, and there's no will in the world that can stop you from fearing death."

Ace slowly turned to face him. "You mean...?"

Kurasame nodded. "Yes. I've gone through the same thing. My companions died before me - but slowly, painfully. And I didn't want to forget them. Not if there was a chance I could remember."

"And you did," Rem realized. "You remember those friends of yours."

"I do," Kurasame confirmed. "Those memories have brought me nothing but pain - but all the same, I would not give them up. I will not let them die until I do."

Ace nodded. "And neither will I," he agreed. "I won't let them go. I want to remember them, when I die. Know they're waiting for me."

He slowly gathered up his cards, slipping them into the pouch on his right leg; and Kurasame led them out of the cemetery.

As they stepped into Classroom Zero, Ace set a hand on Machina's shoulder. "Machina... there's something I want to tell you."

Machina and Rem both turned towards him; Kurasame only offered them a glance before continuing out of the classroom.

"...Your brother," Ace forced out. "Izana Kunagiri?"

His words caught Machina by surprise. "How do you know my brother's name?"

Ace lowered his hand. "I was... going to Mother for a checkup, and... I heard her arguing with the Commandant. About a trainee who had died during the liberation. Izana Kunagiri." His gaze fell. "I... I asked for him. When Mother said I needed to get a COMM to speak with the dominion, I asked for Izana."

Machina's gaze fell. "So that's it," he realized. "I couldn't find any reports about the mission my brother was on that day... because it was for Class Zero."

"Yeah," Ace confirmed. "The... The commandant said that there were more qualified people to do that job. But I... I asked for him. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Machina insisted. "If you asked for him, you knew him. And if the commandant was opposed to it, then my brother could have said no if he didn't want to help you."

"...Thank you."


	4. Gla. XXVII, 842

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mission dates: Operation MA Demolition and Fog-Laden Foray, Glacemens XXV. Mission Under Ceasefire and Escaping the Imperial Capital, Glacemens XXVIII. Annals of Orience proclaim that the cutscenes during the free time in Ingram take place on the XXVII. That's Glacemens XXVI completely unaccounted for. The Annals say that the Op MA Demo cutscenes take place on the XXV, but I get the feeling it's just an error caused by programming; my theory/headcanon is that they get to the Steelworks on the XXVI. (Reasoning: Orience is divided into more-or-less-equal square areas, Rokol to Ingram involves crossing Meroë and Cetme and cutting a diagonal line through Azurr, the Concordian areas are dubbed 'provinces', and you sure can't drive across two provinces here in Canada without killing a day. A Striker on snow can't possibly be that much faster than a wheeled vehicle on a highway.)
> 
> Anyways, the only real changes here are in the last section, so I probably could have made this one chapter with what's coming next, but In the interest of giving this story a little more body, I decided to do all of the mandatory events in Ingram instead of just the big ones.

**14:02**

"Is it just me, or does this place feel _more_ uncomfortable than the cargo of that MA?"

Ace's comment as they waited in a guarded room - in Hotel Armada, in the Militesi capital of Ingram - earned a heavy sigh from Machina and Rem. The Fabula Pact had been invoked in the middle of their mission to the depths of the empire's Steelworks; Machina had been outraged to hear that the dominion had agreed to a ceasefire, but Rem had spent the night since deep in thought.

"When it comes to comfort," Rem observed, "there's a lot to be said for knowing what's going to happen. In that MA, we knew where we were going, what was going to happen, who was going to be there. How much room there was just changed what we had to do in the meantime. But now..."

"...we don't have a damn idea," Machina finished.

The door opened; all three of them turned to find Commander Kurasame stepping into the room, his Tonberry walking at his side.

"Sorry to keep you," he greeted as the three cadets of Class Zero gathered around him. "Effective immediately, you three have been remanded to my charge. You're safe now."

Ace shook his head. "Something tells me you're not just here to give us a ride back to Rubrum."

"Chancellor Khalia is in Milites for negotiations on a long-term true with the empire," Kurasame admitted. "I am here as his attendant. As I am also your commander, it is my duty to brief you, and give you instruction."

Machina stepped forward. "Commander, permission to speak freely."

Kurasame nodded. "What is it?"

"The consortium must have known about our mission," Machina protested. "Why would they agree to peace talks?"

"Because the consortium had no reason to refuse," Kurasame said matter-of-factly. "The empire offered to make sweeping concessions."

"But we succeeded in destroying their weapon prototype!" Machina yelled. "They're just trying to stall for time!"

Kurasame shook his head. "The empire made their proposal before you accomplished your mission," he corrected. "You didn't receive word because we were not able to contact you."

"Does the consortium honestly believe that the empire has no ulterior motive?" Ace accused.

"Whatever the other side may have in mind," Kurasame observed, "once the treaty is drawn up and signed, this war will be over. Any further questions?"

Ace hesitated for a moment. "...No," he said finally.

Kurasame nodded. "It will be some time before the peace negotiations conclude," he warned. "I'm sure you're all exhausted from the operation. You may stay the night here, and return to Rubrum tomorrow." Machina was visibly displeased as he continued; "You are on leave until tomorrow morning, with permission to move freely outside the military zone." He started to leave the room before turning back. "It's not every day you get to visit the Militesi imperial capital. Why not take a look around?"

"Yes," Rem assured him, "we will."

"Don't forget," Kurasame added, "you  _are_ cadets. Make good use of your time. That is all."

* * *

**14:29**

Ace, Machina, and Rem had yet to go anywhere before the doors opened again; this time, the one who entered was unanticipated by all. Two Concordian women - unmistakable for their stature, by any who knew as much - pushed the doors wide, flanking what appeared to be a floating chair. The woman upon the seat was clearly Concordian as well; but more than that, she was dressed most regally, and in an instant did the cadets realize who this must be.

All three of them fell to one knee in the presence of the queen of Concordia.

To their surprise, her attendants bowed in return; and the queen spoke. "There is no need for formalities here," she assured them. "Be at ease."

As the cadets began to rise, a cry sounded from outside - clearly not human, nor any man-made warning siren - and the queen turned as though speaking to someone behind her. "Yes, indeed." Then, turning to the cadets; "I beg your pardon. I am Andoria Kaya Tranka Fam Forturio. I have come to Milites on behalf of Concordia to take part in the negotiations.

"Your... Majesty," Machina stumbled, clearly surprised by the queen's presence. "What brings you to see us?"

Another cry from outside; and the queen reacted to it again. "Yes, I know." Then, before Machina could question her, she responded; "You oppose the ceasefire."

"No, I..." Machina stopped himself, shaking his head as he realized denial would do him no good here. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't think it's right. The empire invaded Rubrum and defiled our Crystal. How can we possibly ally with them now?"

"Your thoughts are at odds with the Will of the Crystals," Queen Andoria reprimanded.

Machina stepped back in surprise, and Rem stepped forward. "But we've sworn fealty to the Crystal," she proclaimed, "and we've never betrayed that oath. How can you say we're at odds with the Crystal?"

Queen Andoria offered a small smile. "There are friends of mine who inform me of what the Crystals are thinking," she replied.

Another cry from outside, and Rem gasped as she realized to whom she was referring.

"I was chosen by the dragons," Queen Andoria proclaimed, "and so my heart is united with theirs. The dragons are manifestations of the Crystals. Ergo, our hearts are united with the Crystals."

"Are you saying... the Crystals want this truce?" Machina asked, disbelieving.

"Look at the full picture," the queen instructed him. "What the Crystals wish for is balance among them. A world as it should be - in equilibrium. Certain fates cannot be achieved through bloodshed. If you fail to understand that..." She closed her eyes. "...then you will bear the burden of Finis."

Machina nearly retaliated at that; but Ace put a hand against his chest to stop him, and asked of the queen; "I assume you're telling us this for a reason."

The queen opened her eyes to face him. "That is because you - as I have seen it - are the final cogs."

_Seen?_

"May the path you follow be bright."

* * *

**15:18**

"I understand you wanted to talk to me?"

The commandant had been among Chancellor Khalia's accompaniment to Ingram, and Machina had been most surprised to have his presence requested. At his query, the commandant took a deep breath. "Well, I thought long and hard about whether I should inform you of this, or not... And perhaps I may regret doing so, considering the current circumstances..."

"Sir," Machina interjected, "what is this about?"

"...It's about your brother," the commandant said finally. "I understand that you're not satisfied with the information you've received about his death. I've been informed that you've recently made inquiries pertaining to your brother's death."

"Oh, right," Machina mused. "About that... I've gotten the information I was looking for."

The commandant started. "I beg your pardon?"

"I couldn't find any records about the mission my brother was on that day," Machina explained. "I was worried he was on the battlefield without being deployed. But Ace told me before we left on that last operation - he was on a mission with Class Zero. Considering they were practically an urban legend before the liberation, I'm not surprised it was classified."

"I-I see," the commandant stuttered. "And... did he happen to mention anything else?"

Machina decided not to add that Ace had (re)discovered this because he had overheard the commandant's argument with Dr. Arecia. "He did mention that he had personally requested my brother for the mission," he admitted. Recalling the conversation they'd had in the cargo of the MA, and the information Ace had solicited from the archsorceress; "They'd apparently met sometime before the liberation, and Ace had been planning to have him act as a liason for a different operation... end of Aquamens, start of Petramens. But then that mess with the crystal jammer happened, and he needed a COMM in a hurry."

"Y-Yes," the commandant mused, "that... sounds accurate."

"I'm terribly sorry, sir," Machina assured him. "After he told me, I should have made it clear that my inquiries were no longer relevant." Then, when the commandant said nothing; "I should go. I told Rem I was gonna stay with her while she rested up."

He took off; and once he was out of earshot, the commandant cursed under his breath.


	5. Gla. XXVIII, 842

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything between Aria getting shot and the end of free time at the deserted house in Lorica takes place on the XXVIII. This one I can kind of buy; Celestia helps Class Zero at the end of Escaping the Imperial Capital, which means flight on dragonback to Lorica. Air travel might take hours instead of days, but Glacemens is in the middle of the year so sunset takes a good while.
> 
> Also, exempting MOG from the escape because I feel like that's just complacency with the setup for instructions mid-mission.

**18:12**

"We have not been able to apprehend the targets."

Ace held out a hand to warn Machina and Rem to hold back as he sighted a Militesi soldier wearing a large communications setup. They'd reported the sensation of a crystal jammer not ten seconds before Aria had charged into their room in Hotel Armada and been  _shot_ ; with imperial soldier bearing down on them, they'd had no choice but to take cover in the Ingram underground, but the soldiers had already spread out down here.

 _"Well, 'we lost them' isn't going to cut it!"_ Ace assumed that the setup the solder was wearing was meant to be in the center of a group receiving communications; otherwise, whoever was on the other end had to yelling pretty loudly for it to reach them, behind cover, a good card's throw away, while Ace was trying to get his COMM to connect to someone.  _"They're wanted for the assassination of the Queen of Concordia! We must find them!"_

"Sir!"

The soldier marched off, and Machina shook his head in disbelief. "Assassination? Of the queen?"

"It couldn't be," Rem protested. "We'd remember that, we would!"

Ace pulled lowered his hand with a grunt. "No one's responding on the COMM," he told them. "No one here, no one at the dominion.

"Don't tell me they got the chancellor, too," Rem murmured. "Is Rubrum safe?"

"What do your memories say?" Ace asked. "You remember the chancellor?"

"Yeah," Rem realized. "Which means he's alright. And Kurasame came with him..."

"I remember talking to the commandant," Machina confirmed. "And I remember MOG was outside the Hotel."

"So they've all gotta be alright," Ace observed. "At least for now."

Rem shook her head. "But, then... Why don't they respond? And why do they think  **we** did it?"

Ace's gaze fell. "We talked to queen," he realized. "I remember, we were introduced to the queen. But I don't remember  _her_ , and I don't remember what she said."

"Milites wasn't letting anyone move around the hotel without an escort," Machina realized. "They'd remember her coming to see us. You think they assumed we killed her?"

"...No," Ace realized. "I think they _decided_ we killed her - before she was dead."

"Decided?!" Machina exclaimed. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it," Ace insisted. "Kurasame came with the chancellor. With a Rubrum official to escort us, they could've sent us back to the dominion. And the chancellor would've been fine with that, seeing as he's our CO. Instead, they said we're not allowed to go anywhere until the peace talks are done - and they  _gave us permission to move freely_. And those soldiers - they came down on our room right away. Aria was barely there to tell us that things were going wrong before they were there."

Rem's gaze fell. "You mean... it's a frameup," she realized. "They killed the queen... and made sure they had someone from Rubrum to blame."

"We have to get out of this city," Ace proclaimed. "We have to get out of the empire."

* * *

**18:22**

A brief moment of reprieve; Ace swiped their stolen keycard across the panel for the door they'd come through, and as the door was closing he hurled one of his own cards to jam the panel on the other side.

Rem's unsteady stance had Machina concerned. "Rem, are you feeling okay?"

"I'm just a little dizzy," Rem insisted. "I'll be fine."

Machina glanced around. They had left one hallway, and were now in another, and there was another keycard door opposite the one they'd come through. "How safe are we here?"

"Not safe enough," Ace bemoaned, stepping towards the other panel. "We've gotta keep moving." He swiped the card, and as the door opened he realized the other side was a train docking station. "Oh, that looks promising."

"It does, now," Rem admitted. Then, as mechanical sounds echoed through the station; "But I think it's about to leave!"

Weapons were drawn; as they charged out into the station, Ace hurled a card at a man atop the train they meant to board, and as it near him it was replaced with a scythe, turning in the air and impaling the man through the neck. Machina charged at the soldiers closer, running them through with his bolt rapiers, and Rem hurled Fire RF at the soldiers further, burning them before they could fire.

As they started towards the stairs, the nearest wall tore open - and from it emerged the freak of a soldier that had been chasing them through the previous tunnels. Rem swore under her breath, vaulting the balcony railing rather than draw too near; the slight bruise of her landing was a small price to pay to avoid that buster of a sword. Machina took a more diagonal leap, grabbing the railing on the stairs and then dropping to Rem's level; Ace charged straight at the freak, and when he made to swing he vanished into an array of cards, appearing behind the soldier and dashing down the stairs shortly thereafter. Rem and Machina cut and cast their way through the remaining soldiers between them and the boarding platform for the rearmost car of the train; as they hopped aboard, Ace lingered just long enough to harvest the phantoma of the Militesi they'd felled.

And as he climbed the boarding platform, the train began to move.

"No!" Ace forced himself to move faster, leaping towards the departing train.

Rem dashed to the ridge of the car, and as he neared she flung her hand forward, seizing his before he could land on the tracks.

Machina came up behind her, grabbing her free hand in both of his and bracing himself to keep her aboard the train.

Ace skidded his feet against the rim of the car, forcing himself up onto its surface, and as soon as he had a solid foothold he nearly collapsed. Rem sighed, hunching over with a hand on her knees, and Machina chuckled in relief, his arms hanging limply.

They were still trying to catch their breath when they heard the horn of another train coming up behind them.

With a groan, Ace glanced back to find Militesi soldiers on a parallel track, with what looked like boarding planks at the edge of their cars. "Oh, don't be  _selfish_ , Ace," he reprimanded of himself, forcing him to get to his feet. "You can't have _another_ mission go easily. You just had one in  _Petramens_."

* * *

**19:02**

" _Ratelo!_ "

Rem had been struck to the earth, her daggers well out of arm's reach. Machina had been the convergence point of lightning, and was in no condition to swing his weapons. At the Concordian's words, the dragon charged towards Ace, and for just a moment he started to raise his card.

But then his resistance faded, and he realized that this might not be such a bad end.

His fingers parted, and his card began to tumble towards the earth as the dragon neared.

" _Rhit!_ "

The dragon leapt at the last moment, its hooves narrowly missing Ace's head, and his eyes widened in surprise as it arced in the air, coming to land behind its mistress. The Concordian woman crossed her arms, regarding Ace curiously.

"Surrender himself to such a fate, a heartless assassin would not. Now unto me, your innocence you must prove."

A shaky breath passed through Ace's lips, and he fell to his knees in equal parts relief and despair.

* * *

**22:42**

"What happened back there?"

Machina's inquiry earned a shake of the head from Ace. "I don't know," he admitted. "She set her dragon on me, and I just... didn't think I could fight it off. I didn't even try. Then she called it off at the last second, and asked me to prove I wasn't the queen's killer."

Rem closed her hands before her. "And... how did you?"

"I just told her what had happened," Ace explained. "We were in the hotel room, waiting for Kurasame. You felt the jammer, and Aria came in and got shot, we ran. Never even saw the queen since yesterday. She said the... the dragons believed me? And she seemed curious about that dracoknight who mentioned the king..."

"So she decided to help us get..." Machina glanced around. "Where are we?"

"Old Lorica," Ace explained. "Technically, this is still Militesi territory, but... who's gonna check around the crater where they dropped an Ultima Bomb?"

"What about the COMM?" Rem asked. "Any luck contacting anyone?"

Ace shook his head. "Nothing," he admitted. "No dominion, no MOG, no one."

Rem aimed a hand at the firepit they'd lit; after a moment, a Fire RF flew from her hand. "My magic's still here," she mused. "Which means it can't be a problem with the Crystal."

Machina crossed his arms. "You said that Concordian helped us get here, right?"

"Celestia," Ace informed him. "Yeah, she said she'd help us stay under the Militesi radar."

"What if... she's stopping the empire from noticing us... and it happens to be stopping us from getting to the dominion?" Machina suggested.

"How would that happen?" Rem asked.

"I don't know," Machina admitted. "But maybe we're better off trying to get back to the dominion on foot."

"Machina, it's only an hour and change until midnight," Ace protested.

"Which means any imperial soldiers in the area aren't gonna be paying the most attention, are they?" Rem observed.

Ace sighed. "Yeah," he admitted. "Alright, sure. We'll walk."

* * *

**23:02**

After quickly judging that the crater itself wouldn't be harmful, they decided to circle the Ultima Bomb impact. Rem only realized a good twenty minutes into the trek that they had taken the long way around, yet before she could point it out to the others, Machina quickly spoke up.

"What is that?"

A large boulder, just off the edge of the impact, was still mostly intact. However, there was something that was decidedly  _not rock_ against its surface; as they got closer, Ace realized that it was a person, and then that it was a person in a  _White Tiger mask_ ; both feet and her right arm were fused into the rock, and her body was hanging limp.

As they got near, she raised her gaze towards them, and a grating voice that had received no sustenance spoke to them.

"Well, this sucks..."

Machina started. "The White Tiger l'Cie!"

Rem raised a hand before her. "How long have you been here?"

"The Ultima Bomb was an experimental weapon," the l'Cie proclaimed. "They wanted some way to make sure that it would take out Lorica in its entirety. And then I got back - a Secundus l'Cie, whose power revolved around making Militesi technology more effective... and who had just gotten her ass kicked by a few red rats."

"They had you set off the Ultima Bomb?" Machina exclaimed. "In person?"

The l'Cie scoffed. "They were gonna get rid of me sooner or later," she admitted. "Engine 9 has been in development since the Marshal took the reins of Milites. When they uncovered the Black Tortoise in Pyromens, the White Tiger told me I was long past being any use to them."

"The Crystal did?" Rem couldn't believe her ears. "Why would it-?"

"You don't get it it, do you?" The l'Cie sounded disdainful. "Why else would l'Cie do as a military usurper told them? Milites has devised a way to subjugate the Crystals. My Focus was delivered in the voice of Cid Aulstyne - until he decided that I didn't need any more Focus." She shook her head. "But I'm still l'Cie. I've been on this rock since Aquamens, and the Crystal won't even let me starve to death."

She turned her gaze on Ace. "You'd be doing me a big favour if you put one of those cards in my throat, and let me sleep in crystal."

Machina turned to him. "Ace, she's a White Tiger l'Cie. If the dominion learns we helped her - even putting her into crystal stasis because she asked for it - they're not gonna let us serve them as Agito Cadets."

Ace's gaze fell. "...The dominion doesn't even know we're here." His gaze shot up to the l'Cie. "What's your name?"

The l'Cie scoffed. "Qun'mi Tru'e," she answered. "What, want to pass it on to the dominion?"

"Qun'mi..." Rem recognized that name. "Someone in a scorpion MA attacked us in Ingram. She mentioned you."

Ace turned around. "Machina, let me see one of your swords."

"What? Uh, sure..." His bolt rapiers appeared in his hands, and he held one out for Ace to take it.

No sooner had Ace closed his hand on the grip than he realized he had no idea how this thing worked. "How do you make this thing drill?"

"Here," Machina explained, pointing to a trigger on the underside of the hilt. "Pull that."

"Alright..."

The Agito Cadet turned around, bracing the rapier to thrust; Qun'mi lifted herself up as best as her muscles allowed, giving him a clear shot as the blade began to turn.

Then he thrust.

The blade slammed into the rock - just under her left leg.

"What!?"

He was only able to hold it there for a few moments; he released the trigger as the blade started to force itself aside, glaring at the length. "The blade's too long," he cursed. "I can't keep it there with just the handle."

"Ace, what are you doing!?" Machina protested.

"The Crystals are obligated to have two active l'Cie as long as there are at least two people who serve them," Ace reprimanded. "If she goes into crystal stasis, who knows who Cid Aulstyne is gonna have take her place as Secundus? Do you want that general in the anti-magic MA to be a l'Cie?"

Machina had no argument.

Rem stepped forward. "Try one of your cards," she told him. "If you have that against the blade, you should be able to hold it in place."

"Right..." Ace drew a card, then flicked it into the air; it was wrapped in a white light, and he put his palm against the back of the card and held it against the bolt rapier as he pulled the trigger. It started to spin, and neither blade nor card suffered from the contact; he quickly turned towards Qun'mi. "Stop me before I drill your foot off."

He slammed the blade into the rock again, and this time he was able to hold it in place as it wore the rock away. His card hand rotated around the blade as he pushed deeper, careful not to drill into Qun'mi's leg nor have the hole dig too far away; after a long moment, she yelled, "Stop, stop!"

Ace pulled the blade out, and shortly after, the l'Cie forced her foot to follow. Her other leg was freed in the same manner; then Ace turned the blade towards her trapped arm.

Qun'mi leaned her entire body away from the blade as he drilled, and after a long moment she moved - suddenly. Her body was propelled from the rock, and she lunged towards Rem, green trailing from her fingers as she made to rake claws down Rem's face; her daggers were in her hands in an instant, and she deflected the blow off one and bashed the pommel of the other against her arm before twisting around and unleashing a Thunder SHG over her body. She stumbled back from the strike, and Machina quickly charged forward with his remaining bolt rapier at the ready, slamming it to the backside of her mask; the tiger visage tumbled off her body, and Ace quickly hurled a card at her legs, it vanishing in mid-flight and a whipblade taking its place.

She fell to the ground, and struggled to even move her legs out of the wrap.

"When you said the Crystal wouldn't let you starve," Ace admitted, "I wasn't expecting you to suffer from the effects of starvation."

"What do you expect me to do?" Qun'mi demanded, glaring at Ace; her platinum-blonde hair was a right mess, but her face was visible enough for Ace to make out what looked to be a decent tan and a pair of brown eyes. "If I go back to the empire, and tell them I was set free by a pack of dominion rats, they're gonna chain me to the floor of the Steelworks. If I want to continue to work as a l'Cie, I have to come back with your heads!"

"You said you were here since the Ultima Bomb," Ace proclaimed. "Since Aquamens."

Qun'mi raised her gaze. "What about it?"

Ace shook his head. "Rock wears down over time."

He flung a card at Qun'mi's left hand; it changed form mid-flight, and a heavy mace slammed into the back of her hand, eliciting an unpleasant  _crunch._ Qun'mi screamed, and Rem started. "Ace, what are you-?"

"You freed yourself," Ace told of Qun'mi. "Got it? You punched the rock until it wore down enough for you to pull yourself free." He tossed a card at the mace, and then another at the whipblade around her legs, causing both to vanish."

Qun'mi glared at him. "Suppose I don't want to have freed myself?"

"It's only a matter of time before Cid realizes you're up and moving," Ace mused. "What happens if you defy your Focus?"

He lifted his foot before Qun'mi could reply, and drove a sharp kick into her head; her body went limp, and he moved his foot away to reveal her eyes had closed.

Then he turned to Rem and Machina. "I didn't sleep very well in Ingram," he defended. "Let's go back to that old house before I pass out."


	6. Gla.-Tem., 842

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't know who I thought I was kidding; there's always a minor mission between main scenarios. This would be a nightmare if I'd been doing the Code Crimson missions.

**Gla. XXIX, 842**  
**13:26**

"Class Zero, reporting back."

When Rem had finally made contact with the dominion, in the early hours of the morning after their encounter with Qun'mi, an airship had been sent to pick up the crimson-caped cadets in the Jubanla airspace. When they arrived at the airship landing of Akademeia, they found Commander Kurasame waiting for them; Ace was the one to step forward and offer that weary, but focused greeting.

"Submit your mission report," Kurasame informed them. "The consortium may wish to open an inquiry."

"Excuse me?!" Machina protested.

Rem set a hand on his shoulder. "Machina, it's just procedure. We were unaccounted for after the ceasefire fell apart."

"One question," Ace insisted. "Why didn't you answer our transmissions?"

"We didn't receive any," Kurasame replied. "Our communications couldn't reach you either."

"Our COMMs couldn't reach you, and your COMMs couldn't reach us," Machina observed.

Kurasame nodded. "The inquiry board believes you may have intentionally cut off communications."

"Excuse me!?" Rem protested.

"Welcome back." There was a genuine kindness in Kurasame's voice; a silent proclamation that, whatever the dominion might say of them, he was glad they were safe. "You are free to rest until further notice."

* * *

 **Ter. XXV, 842**  
**09:43**

"Uh, General?"

Aria hadn't been slain during the assault on Class Zero's hotel room; the empire had administered medical care, and when their prisoner-of-war camps had turned out to be full, she had been remanded to the charge of General Qator Bashtar. In gratitude - both for his decision and his bestowing permission to speak freely - she often lingered around his office when he was off-field, ready to aid him if he should need someone to run an errand.

She had spent the morning thus far looking out the window, watching snow fall in Ingram; at her comment, Qator turned to her. "What is it?"

"There's this frickin' chick outside," Aria informed him. "Looks like she could use some frickin' medical attention." Then, starting in surprise; "Wait, that frickin' tiger mask...! Wasn't she at Akademeia in frickin' Aquamens?"

Qator shot to his feet. "Qun'mi?!"

* * *

**Ter. XXV, 842  
11:59**

"So, you survived the decimation of Lorica."

On hearing that Qun'mi was back in Ingram, Cid had demanded that the l'Cie be brought before him immediately - medical attention be damned. Thus did she stand before him, left hand bleeding and mangled at her side, her mask taken from her and sitting upon the Marshal's desk, a scant two hours after the General's newfound aide had noticed her.

At the Marshal's comment, Qun'mi only huffed. "Barely," she spat back. "I was fused to the rock at the edge of the crater. Fate's got a sick sense of humor that I had one arm free." She glanced at her wounded hand. "...But the rock wore down over time. I beat on it until I had my legs free, then beat on it some more until I could free my other arm."

"When I had the message be sent that we would no longer require your inferior services," Cid mused, "I confess that I did not expect you to receive it."

Qun'mi shook her head, remembering what the dominion boy had said. "Well, someone would have," she reprimanded. "The Crystals are obligated to have two l'Cie as long as there are two people who serve them. If I'd gone into the crystal, Ines would've gotten the brand if you weren't paying attention."

Cid huffed, disdainful that she would speak of the Crystal as though it still had a will of its own.

"And about that message," Qun'mi continued. "Engine 9 is running well enough that you think you don't need me. And you've found the Black Tortoise Crystal. And if this shit I'm hearing about Concordia has anything to it, you've got the Azure Dragon along with it?"

"Indeed," the Marshal confirmed. "So why would you come here, knowing that you are no longer needed?"

"Let me see if I've got this right," Qun'mi scoffed. "Engine 9 is designed to replicate my gift as a Secundus l'Cie. My gift as a Secundus l'Cie is to empower imperial magitek. And you're telling me that you have imperial magitek designed to empower imperial magitek."

Slowly, Cid turned his gaze to her.

"Didn't occur to you that maybe it could stack?"

A smirk rose on the Marshal's face. He picked up her tiger mask and tossed it at her; Qun'mi managed to catch it against her chest with her unharmed hand. "The dominion has taken Meroë," he informed her, "and intends to claim Big Bridge. We are amassing our forces to halt their advance. You will accompany the suppression, and bar the way of the dominion forces."

His hand rested upon the pommel of the sword at his hip.

"Or else."

Qun'mi bowed her head.

"Dismissed."

With a sigh, Qun'mi turned away; she managed to grip the visage of her mask in one hand, moving it up to her face. With a flash of light, the hood of the mask extended over her head, holding it in place, and she lowered her hand as she left the room, seeking out the medial ward.

 _This sucks._ She dared not even  **think** ill of Cid Aulstyne before his presence, after hearing the Crystal speak in his voice; yet out of earshot, her thoughts formed freely and honestly.  _He really doesn't understand the Crystal in the slightest. If I went into stasis, the Crystal would have branded Ines in my place unless he actively made it brand someone else. And it didn't even occur to him that I might be lying? If he knew l'Cie at all, he would've forced a Focus on me to tell him the truth._

She shook her head.  _'Or else', he says. Focus is something l'Cie must follow without question, to the best of their abilities. If I do my best, and the dominion still kicks our asses at Big Bridge, that doesn't turn me into a Cie'th._

The medical ward was before her now, and Qun'mi stepped inside with a sigh. "This really sucks."

* * *

 **Tem. XVI, 842**  
**18:58**

"Found you, found you!"

Ace, Machina, and Rem were halfway down the walkway to the landing when a familiar voice emerged behind them; Class Zero turned to find their Naghi dashing after them. "What now?" Ace asked.

"Oh, come on, don't get all uptight!" Naghi protested. "It's a genuine order!"

"Orders now?" Machina protested. "We're leaving for Judecca in less than two minutes."

"The troops engaging the imperial forces to the west need reinforcements," Naghi insisted. "The order is to send members from Class Zero."

Ace's jaw fell. "What!? There's only- Agh!" He knuckled his forehead.

Naghi shook his head. "You've been given orders from the top," he assured them. "That takes precedent over the blanket orders that all cadets engage the kingdom."

"And if you think that's gonna fly with that baldo who decided Kurasame is backing up Lady Caetuna," Ace countered, "I have a deed to sell you once we get the empire off Big Bridge."

Machina and Rem exchanged glances; then Machina set a hand on Ace's shoulder. "Ace, you go to the western front. Me and Rem will handle things in Judecca."

Ace turned round. "What?"

"If they're asking for Class Zero," Rem pointed out, "it's because of the empire's crystal jammer. You can still use your magic against those - me and Machina can't. We'll be alright dealing with the kingdom, we will."

"...Alright," Ace conceded. "Best of luck."

"You too," Machina insisted.

They quickly boarded the airship; Ace turned to Naghi. "Tell them I'll join the deployment right away; I need to talk to Mother."

He dashed out of the landing before Naghi could protest; with most of the cadets already on board the airships to Judecca, there was next to no traffic as he charged into the entrance hall and onto the central portal. "Sorcery."

The entrance hall vanished around him - and a spiky necklace appeared before him. Ace yelped in surprise; Arecia had been about to warp out of Sorcery when he had appeared, and she was rather surprised to see him.

"Oh, Ace," she greeted. "Is something the matter?"

"Mother!" Ace gasped. "The consortium asked for someone from Class Zero to join the imperial front."

"Yes, I heard," Arecia confirmed. "That means you and the others-"

"No," Ace corrected. "Machina and Rem are going to Judecca; they need someone to deal with the crystal jammer."

Arecia's face fell. "I see," she mused. "Will you be alright?"

Ace nodded. "I'll be fine, Mother," he insisted. "I'm not worried about me. I'm worried about Machina and Rem. You're going to be monitoring the battle with the kingdom, right?"

"I am," Arecia confirmed, "what-"

"Then promise me you'll watch out for them," Ace interrupted.

His words earned a noticeable change in Arecia's disposition. "Ace," she warned, "there's only so much I can do. You know that-"

"I know, I know," Ace hurried. "I promised I wouldn't tell Machina and Rem about..." He hesitated. "About our _family_ secrets. But they're trying to get us killed off. Promise me you'll make sure Machina and Rem are okay. Promise me you'll watch out for them, just as though I was there."

Silence in Sorcery for a long moment; then Arecia tossed aside her cigarette. "...Alright, Ace. Alright."

A small smile rose on Ace's face, and he put his arms around her. "Thank you, Mother."

Then he dashed back into the portal, and once he had vanished Arecia took a heavy breath.

"Such a strong bond with those two. I wonder..."


	7. Tem. XVII, 842

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spent all of yesterday level grinding, scoring SOs, and trying to get Sylkis Greens out of Innsmouth Coast. Everyone in Class Zero is at or near level 30, I've gotten all the SOs I wanted... and I think I'll wait to get Sylkis Greens until I have the Setzer and can go to Northern Valley.
> 
> With the dark skies over Judecca, I thought the Clash of Big Bridge took place the next day. But it's dark because the First Battle of Judecca begins at -02:51-. 04:18 if you go by Soryu's first breath.
> 
> So, there are four rescues to do in the southernmost region of the Judecca clouds. There are four optional members of Class Zero besides Naghi. And I just feel like that's a huge missed opportunity. I scoured the concept art for everyone's weapons, let's have some fun.

**05:28**

"Dammit..."

Machina forced himself to rise, ignoring the burning pain in his body from his involuntary landing. The clash over the Strait of Judecca was not off to a great start for the Dominion of Rubrum. The entire airship fleet was imprisoned in ice, or else had their mobility hampered by the frozen clouds; two summoning platoons had called forth Eidolons, only for their sacrifice to be wasted as Bahamut and Odin plummeted into the strait in prisons of ice; Lord Zhuyu had his hands full just occupying the Azure Dragon Primus l'Cie; and now, Class Zero's attempt at fending off the Concordian dragons had been cut short by their airship being shot down by another breath attack.

Cure magic washed over him; he turned to find Rem standing at his side. "Are you alright, Machina?"

"There is no such thing as alright on the battlefield," Machina admitted, quoting Kurasame's words when they had spoken about his deployment to the Militesi front. "But I'm not dead."

Tachinami's voice came over the COMM in his ear.  _"Class Zero, we need you to engage in hand-to-hand combat on top of the frozen clouds."_

 _"We've encountered Concordian troops!"_ another cadet warned over the frequency.  _"Be careful! They're using monsters!"_

Rem sighed. "Ready for this, Machina?"

"Not really," Machina admitted, drawing his bolt rapiers, "but more because I've never seen a dracoknight in battle."

* * *

**05:42**

_"This is Class Third... They got us. It was a Five-Star Dragon... Even we cadets didn't stand a chance..."_

Rem drove one dagger into the ground as she got back up to her feet; the icy terrain on which they were fighting was doing no one favours. A few dominion cadets had set up supply crates to form something of a refuge points, only for dracoknights and a wyvern to bombard it; she and Machina had arrived in time to strike down the wyvern, but not before it had blasted on more than a few cadets, and those who were still able were trying to heal those who had been struck, uttering their names over and over to assert themselves that their companions were still alive.

Someone was approaching the area from further into the clouds; Machina approached to find Naghi was dashing towards them, looking a little out of breath and with a blade in his grip. "Oh!" he greeted. "I see you're still alive." Then, flicking his blade shut; "Well, moving on, there's a tough critter up ahead, and it's preventing some of our forces from joining up. What do you say to lending them a hand?"

 _"Request confirmed,"_  Tachinami proclaimed over the COMM.  _"Class Zero, go and assist the survivors."_

"On our way," Machina assured him.

"There  _are_ still survivors, right?" Rem prayed.

Machina nodded. "Let's get going!"

As they dashed down the ledge Naghi had come from, he leaned against the nearest wall of ice, driving his blade into his pocket with a groan.

* * *

**05:55**

"There!"

Machina's yell was quickly followed by a throw of Rem's daggers; a massive flyvern was standing atop the wreck of the  _Yugumo_ , and atop it was a dracoknight in armour. Her blades skimmed across his armour and returned on their trajectory, and his recoil from the blow had the dragon rearing as he pulled on its reins.

"You're still here?" the knight snarled. "I shall deal with you later!"

Rem seized her returning blades as the dragon soared off. "That must be the 'tough critter' that Naghi mentioned," she realized. "After him!"

They charged through the icy crevasse that seemed most like to lead in the direction he had flown; sure enough, they came out on a ridge overlooking a wide-open area where a propeller mount for the airship had impaled itself in the ice. The flyvern was here, along with several kingdom cryonades - and below, the self-described 'Blazing Merchant' Carla was pinned against the ridge, a magitek rifle sitting a good reach away.

A surge of Thunder SHG from Machina skimmed the rider, and as he raised his gaze Rem struck him with a blast of Fire RF; again did his recoil cause his dragon to move, and Carla quickly lunged towards her weapon, turning it on the dragon with a roll and firing a magic pulse that had the flyvern stumbling. The rider deemed his task best continued elsewhere, and soared off; Carla quickly got to her feet, slinging a chain around her weapon over her shoulder as Machina and Rem leapt down from the ridge.

The bombs didn't last long under the combined assault; once they had fallen, Carla slung her rifle over her back and turned to the Class Zero cadets. "Thanks for the save!" she praised. "When we get back, you guys are getting, like, 90% off!"

Machina and Rem traded smirks as she took off towards the _Yugumo_ wreck. "90% off 70,000 gil for Aethyr is still a 7000 gil energy drink," he observed.

"Still, a discount like that means a lot coming from her, it does," Rem countered.

 _"Someone send help!"_ came a cry over the COMM.  _"I'm in the west, and this dragon rider's picking on me!"_

"On our way!" Rem called back as she and Machina charged to the west.

They found the flyvern in a cave of ice, with a snowsquatch rampaging behind it and bully-victim bomber Mutsuki trapped under its maw. One of her bombs was far enough she couldn't reach it, near enough that it could hurt her if it went off, and  _lit_ ; Machina dug his bolt rapiers under it and flung it towards the flyvern's rider, who narrowly evaded it and left it blasting the snowsquatch as he made to take off again. Mustuki quickly righted herself; there was a small top-like shape spinning at her side, and as she knelt down another bomb appeared from it, which she seized and hurled at the snowsquatch before it could recover from the first blast.

After a quick scan of the area to make sure there were no other monsters around, she turned to Class Zero. "I owe you one!" she praised. "But that still doesn't mean you get to pick on me!"

She charged out the way they'd come in, and Rem sighed. "That's Class Twelfth for you," she mused. "More variety than thirty-sided dice..."

"...and not to be trifled with," Machina agreed.

 _"Can anyone hear me?"_ the COMM relayed from someone else.  _"I'm pinned down in the south!"_

"We'll be right with you!" Machina assured him, and he and Rem broke into a dash.

The cave had a southern exit, and the two of them found themselves in a cliff area with what seemed to be a  **waterfall** ; Rem could only assume that Lord Zhuyu had been here. The flyvern was here as well, this time confronting the avid reader Quon; he had an open book in his grip, and a demonicorn on either side meant that he was flanked irrevocably. Machina struck one doublicorn, and Rem the other, causing them to dash away; then they both aimed a Thunder SHG at the dracoknight, leaving him taking off. As soon as its feet were off the ground, Quon raised the hand not holding his book forward - and bullets of magic flew out in random directions, enough of them striking the doublicorns that Machina and Rem were able to eliminate them shortly.

"That's the last time I test a new spell during an operation," Quon proclaimed, closing his book single-handedly. "Thank you for ensuring my mistake wasn't fatal."

He charged off, and Machina set a hand on his hip. "Aloud is infamous for horrible accuracy," he recalled. "Why would he even try that one?"

Rem shook her head. "Some people aren't satisfied with word of mouth," she observed.

 _"I'm the east!"_ a voice boomed over the COMM.  _"This dragon has no mercy! Requesting backup!"_

"En route, hold position!" Rem called back as she and Machina started out.

A quick dash through the central station put Machina and Rem in a wide-open area the moon was shining down on; sure enough, the flyvern was here as well, along with a couple blancmanges. The half-Lorican Ryid was there, on his feet, but disarmed; a massive two-bladed weapon was sitting nearby, and Machina quickly kicked it in his direction while Rem unleashed Fire RF on the flans. Now the ice was to their advantage; the weapon skidded across the surface with ease, driving into one of the dragon's feet and causing it to recoil.

Ryid quickly dove forth, seizing it and lashing it at the other leg to get the dragon to take off; once it was clear, he turned to Class Zero. "I am in your debt," he praised. "Let us hope we all live to see that I can repay it."

He took off towards the  _Yugumo_ , and Machina and Rem chuckled. "I suppose that's one motive to survive," Rem admitted.

"Yeah," Machina agreed. " 'I can't die here, I owe someone'!"

* * *

**06:32**

Rem stumbling as she rounded a corner caught Machina by concern. "Rem!"

"I'm fine." Rem's tone wasn't one of illness or tire - it was one of terror. "But... what is that?"

Machina emerged from the corner and saw what had caught her attention. Between them and Naghi was what looked like a massive  _city_ \- a collage of towers, with a shell that looked like cave walls. As they started towards it, something far more terrifying caught their attention - a Concordian dragon was lying on the ice, and several humanoid figures were hunched over it and  _biting from its flesh_.

"What in Orience...?"

One of the figures rose from around the dragon, turning to face the cadets; its skin looked rotted and weathered, its posture was hunched over and feral, and its face was distorted, eyeless and with a jaw far too wide. But they barely had time to register this before the ice broke open beneath them; twisted arms reached up and seized the two cadets, and they were dragged into the frozen cloud.

There wasn't enough room to swing a sword as he was dragged under; Machina swung his hand down beneath him, and Thunder SHG spread beneath him, shocking both him and his attacker. The arms parted from his legs, but there was still emptiness for him to fall into; he closed his eyes, dreading the plummet...

...and struck a hard, rock surface.

Machina shot upright; this was terrifying. He was in a solid stone structure, heavy with humidity and heat that had no business being so near the frozen clouds he had been standing on a few moments ago. Rem was lying nearby, and as she got to her feet she glanced around.

"What is this place?"

"I don't know," Machina admitted. "But we have to get out of here."

* * *

**07:44**

_"Our footing won't last! We're taking off!"_

Naghi, Machina, and Rem were at a dead sprint towards the airship's location - but with the way the Five-Star Dragon was causing the clouds to collapse, the airship wasn't going to be there for long. A wingvern dove towards Naghi and took a blade to the throat as he dashed past it without even slowing down; the ship was passing near the cliff, and he quickly scrambled up a stack of boxes and leapt as it passed.

Machina made to follow... and was knocked to the ground by a blast of voltage.

Rem hurled a shot of Fire RF at the dragon trying to dive at him. "Get up, Machina!"

"Dammit!" Machina saw another dragon coming and slammed it with his bolt rapiers before it got near enough to strike. "It's gone!"

"Then we take out the dragons," Rem insisted. "Make it safe for them to fly back!"

The sun was starting to rise on Judecca by the time they had fought off the assailants - not only the kingdom's dragons, but also the same humanoid creatures they had faced in that underground hell. Machina looked ready to collapse, and Rem's breath was heavy as she reached for her COMM. "This is Class Zero," she proclaimed. "The cliff face is safe. We need-"

A sudden gale cut her off abruptly, slowly, she and Machina turned to find the massive Five-Star Dragon flying past the edge. Its wings moved to maintain position as it roared towards them; and then, as the cadets drew their weapons, a voice echoed in the air.

The voice of the Concordian they had met in Ingram - Celestia.

_"As per the code of war, I shall use my full power against you! Behold the guardian dragon, Akatoki!"_

Darkness seemed to  **surge** around the Five-Star Dragon; it blot out the rising run, the battlefield around them. Machina and Rem were left standing on a broad icefield, in a storm of dark clouds broken only by cracks of lightning, and the titanic opponent that had felled so many dominion soldiers flew before them.

Rem raised her daggers in terror. "We... we can't..."

Machina readied his bolt rapiers. "We have to."

The dragon turned in the air, diving into the storm around them - and it seemed to vanish, the environs too dark to make it out. Machina and Rem fell back to back, hoping one of them would see it before it attacked them; Rem caught only a glimpse of six red eyes before fire welled up beneath one pair, and then flew towards the two cadets standing there. A blast slammed a short distance away from either of them, and then one hit the earth arm's length away from both, throwing them from their footing. Rem hit the ice rolling; Machina was not so lucky, dashing his head against the surface hard enough that his vision swam.

By the time it cleared, a shower of lightning was flying in his direction.

"Machina!"

Rem charged towards him from the side; her arms wrapped around him in terror, a vain attempt to put herself between him and the attack.

And light shone on the ice beneath them, blinding them to the world.

* * *

**XX:XX**

"Wow, Mother really has no shame at all, does she."

Rem slowly opened her eyes. For a moment she saw nothing but red; then she felt someone under her arms, and realized that she was still holding Machina. Her vision was obscured by his mantle. Slowly, they pulled away from one another, finding themselves kneeling on what appeared to be a beach at dawn.

The sound of someone being struck drew their attention away from the shore. Behind them was a large structure that looked at least half as big as Akademeia - and directly before them were eleven people. Each was dressed in the uniform of an Agito Cadet; each wore a mantle of crimson, save for a girl with short silver hair who had the vermilion on her lapel. Her hand was down in the aftermath of a swing - and beside her, another girl with a silver ponytail was reeling from the blow.

"Who are you?" Machina asked.

"Scuse me, yo?" A boy with unkempt dirty-blond hair leaned forward at his comment. "You mean you don't know? He said he wouldn't forget us, hey."

"Forget..." The memory struck Rem out of nowhere. "You're... Ace's family."

"Aww, yeah!" A redheaded girl with ringlets and a long braid pumped her fist in the air. "I knew Acey wouldn't forget! He promised!"

A boy with coiffed blond hair stepped forward. "So, let me guess; you guys ended up on the end of something real sour, right?"

"Y-Yeah," Machina confirmed. Glancing around the beach again; "Wait, if you're here... are we...?"

"You're no longer alive," confirmed a brunette boy whose hair was cut very short. "But that doesn't mean that you're dead."

Rem blinked. "I'm... sorry? How does that make sense?"

"Mother is the greatest sorceress in the dominion for a reason," claimed a boy with face-framing blonde hair. "If just one of you is alright, she can bring back the rest, no matter how badly you might suffer."

Machina started. "Dr. Arecia can do that?"

A redheaded girl whose hair was spiked out at the sides only crossed her arms. "Most of the time, yeah," she confirmed. "As long as she knows it's happening."

A muscular boy with a blonde mullet set a hand on his hip. "You won't be here long. Thought we'd make sure you knew as much."

"But..." Rem shook her head. "Ace... wasn't with us. He was way out on the western front. Why would Arecia save us, while he was there?"

"Because Ace asked her to," proclaimed a black-haired girl in glasses.

"Ace did?" Machina lowered his gaze. "You mean... he knew this was going to happen?"

A brunette girl with shoulder-length hair stepped forward. "He knew that you might be in danger," she proclaimed. "And he asked Mother to protect you, the same as she would him."

"And if she didn't," added the girl with the short silver hair, "someone else was prepared to make sure she followed through."

Rem raised an eyebrow. "But, if we're here, and she's going to bring us back..."

"...what else would she be expected to do?" Machina finished.

* * *

**08:12**

"Machina!"

Rem charged towards him from the side; her arms wrapped around him in terror, a vain attempt to put herself between him and the attack.

And light shone on the ice beneath them, blinding them to the world.

_I call upon thee, Eidolon of Supreme Destruction._

The two cadets vanished, an instant before the voltage could connect; it died against the ice, and the portal that had manifested beneath them faded away.

_Protect my fellow loci from the Azure Warden._

In the cimmerian skies appeared another portal - and around it appeared others, more and more, until shadows did not exist for the light. The centermost had a narrow, crimson eye upon it; after only an instant, the eye opened wide, and from it emerged a draconic figure - no natural beast, as could be controlled by those of the Azure Dragon, but an otherworldly creature borne of the summonings of the Vermilion Bird. The moment it was free of the portal, it vanished, as did its bretheren, and the Eidolon descended towards the icefield.

It spread its wings; magic surged from those wings, like the exhaust of engines that would keep mortal machines in the air, and the dragon gave a roar. Before it appeared a faint vermilion glow; when it faded, a figure stood there, a girl in a broad black hat.

The icefield crumbled, leaving only a narrow length on one end of which the Eidolon stood; the Five-Star Dragon perched upon the edge of the other, roaring in return. The voice of Celestia emerged in the air around it.  _"Your beast of war, is this? From whence have you come?!"_

"Only the chosen may enter that land."

Light welled before Bahamut ZERO; the girl vanished in the same glow with which she had arrived, and a penetrating beam emerged, razing Shinryu Celestia. With an angry roar, her auxiliary heads moved; blasts of flame flew a straight line into the Eidolon, and showers of voltage arced around to strike in succession. In retaliation, the Eidolon charged forward, striking the Five-Star Dragon with a full-bodied blow before raking her with one claw and then the other; Celestia made to counter with a lunge from her central head, only to find her horns seized in Bahamut's claws. It dragged her body onto the ground, rotating that her wings would be pinned under her own body; then that light began to wrap his entire form, and he began to ascend.

So did Bahamut.

And so did Bahamut.

Eidolon after Eidolon rose in the cimmerian skies, an entire thunder of Bahamut; and Shinryu Celestia could not begin to flee before Bahamut ZERO unleashed its first blast. It struck the Five-Star Dragon, and consumed the world in flare - and within that world of flare, the rest of the thunder unleashed beam after beam upon the victim, bombarding the dragon and its perch until there was only enough for her to fall from.

Bahamut ZERO descended, and when Celestia did not rise again, it vanished. The dark clouds faded, exposing the risen sun over Judecca. A portal appeared upon the remnants of the frozen cloud where he had stood; when it faded, two Agito Cadets were knelt there, her arms wrapped around him.

Rem slowly opened her eyes. For a moment she saw nothing but red; then she felt someone under her arms, and realized that she was still holding Machina. Her vision was obscured by his mantle. Slowly, they pulled away from one another, finding the icefield reduced to the smallest fragment - barely enough room for the two of them to stand upon.

"What... happened?" Rem murmured.

"I don't... I don't know." Machina glanced around. "But... if we fall here... we won't survive it."

The roar of an airship's engine; the two cadets turned to find a military corvette soaring towards them. Naghi's voice came over the COMM;  _"You made it? Hold tight - I'll extract you!"_

Rem breathed a sigh of relief. "Your timing is amazing."

* * *

**08:21**

Four other cadets were waiting for Machina and Rem when they got on board - and Naghi was busy in the cabin.

"Carla? Ryid, Mutsuki, Quon!" Rem couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Don't tell me-?"

"Just so," Quon confirmed. "The airship pilot was disinclined to return to aid you, at first."

"How did you convince them to come back?" Machina asked.

Mustuki pulled a bomb out of her bag. "You stopped the dragon from picking on me," she proclaimed, "I stopped the pilot from picking on you."

Ryid crossed his arms. "Indeed," he proclaimed. "After having saved so many of us, it would be of poor taste for us to refuse to save you."

"Doesn't  _really_ even out," Carla admitted. "But I am gonna have to cut you down to a 50% off."

Machina and Rem laughed at that as Naghi approached. "Good news, guys," he proclaimed. "The Five-Star Dragon is nowhere to be seen. With Lord Zhuyu keeping Soryu in check, we might have a chance!"

"How is the main force doing?" Rem asked.

"Considering what Lady Caetuna had planned," Machina mused, "I'd be surprised if the empire's doing anything."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bahamut ZERO vs. Shinryu Celestia is such a horrific curb-stomp. I usually try to charge up Tera Flare without getting that Breaksight hit just to make it seem halfway fair.


	8. Tem. XVII, 842

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did once try to do a run with just Ace, Machina, and Rem. Big Bridge and Pandæmonium both require at least two Al-Rashia kids to be involved because there's a split-up. And in Pandæmonium, they don't let you take a single party member on a branch. The closest you can get is to train your Eidolons and have one on Big Bridge be a summoning kamikaze.
> 
> Also, I could have sworn Machina had quotes in like 80% of the situations during missions where he's off as Incognitus, but he's silent all throughout Judecca.
> 
> Also also, 'score Killsight strikes on Shock Troopers' is the most BS SO ever.

**12:02**

"The dominion's ground troops are still retreating. Our warships are hardly damaged. Our foot soldiers are moving forward."

The clash at Big Bridge was going smoothly - from the Militesi perspective. General Qator knew that an enemy l'Cie had been deployed to this region, but it would seem that the Vermilion Bird did not bestow its Secundus with as beneficial a power as the White Tiger. "And the Concordian front?"

"Rubrum is putting up a good fight," the reporting officer replied. "They've not made any headway."

"The Concordian army is weaker than I thought," Qator observed. "I had slightly higher expectations of them..." Then, to the officer; "Inform me of any changes at once."

"Sir!"

The officer departed, and Qator turned his gaze back to the battlefield.  _On this front, however, the dominion is far too weak. Furthermore, this 108th Brigade, organized under Marshal Cid's command, includes many former imperial officers. It can't be a coincidence..._

Approaching footsteps drew his attention; Qun'mi was making her way forward. "Well, this sucks," she grumbled. "Guess who they noticed mobilizing in the dominion camp."

"The red demons," Qator suspected.

" _Demon_ ," Qun'mi replied. "Singular."

"They think one cadet of the right cape to be enough?" Qator set a hand on his chin. "Now, does that speak of confidence, or arrogance?"

* * *

**14:21**

_"The jammer is up ahead! Neutralize it!"_

Kasumi's direction over the COMM came as Ace stepped onto Big Bridge; Milites had seen him coming, and segments of the bridge were being raised into slopes to bar his path. He was alone here on the Militesi front, and as soon as the imperial troopers began to raise their weapons, he blocked out everything else coming over his COMM. Cards flew from his hands, struck enemy soldiers, and transformed into the weapons of his brothers and sisters, and then more cards flew forward, into which those weapons vanished; magic moved his body before enemy shots could draw near, propelling him as he dashed across the bridge unceasingly.

As he neared the western bank, the bridge shifted where he stood in an effort to throw him back, and shifted ahead of him to bar his path; he kept running as the slope beneath his feet steepened, and he was at the peak before it was too steep to climb, whereupon he leapt to the opposite slope. He was not near enough to land on the opposite slope, but near enough to grab its peak; he forced himself to climb over it without stopping to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him, and before the enemy officer could react to his descent, he hurled a card towards him, changing its form mid-flight.

A handgun slammed into his forehead as he made to raise his rifle, and clattered to the ground; the officer double-took and found its surface lined with patterns in the manner of dominion magitek, and he and Ace exchanged uncertain glances.

Then he raised his rifle, and Ace hurled another card; this one turned into a mace as it neared, and the imperial's helmet collapsed as it made contact.

"Stupid," Ace muttered to himself, hurling a card at the mace and then another at the magicite weapon that had fallen. "That was Cater's pistol." He normally paid attention to which weapon-cards he was throwing so he didn't throw projectile weapons, Deuce's flute, or Eight's knuckle dusters at his opponents, but being on overdrive as he was had faltered his attention, and he berated himself as he started towards the bank.

 _"Wait!"_ Kasumi warned him.  _"Enemy reinforcements are coming from behind. You'll be caught in a crossfire!"_

"What!?"

Armament blasts before him confirmed what Kasumi was saying; Ace turned to find a horde of Colossus units on the east bank of the bridge. "Oh, come on," Ace muttered, turning back towards the west bank. "The jammer's right here! But...!"

His gaze drifted back to the east bank; then he drew a card with a growl, charging at the jammer. "I'm not gonna live this down," he muttered. "Sice is  _not_ gonna let me live this down!"

* * *

**14:39**

"Maintain fire! Do not let him near the jammer!"

The soldiers didn't intend to cross the bridge with the MAs themselves; why bother, when the missiles a Colossus could fire were plenty capable of crossing the bridge on their own? Three Colossi stood across the bank, fire with impunity; behind them hovered an officer in a Type-39 Airmobile Suit, and around them, multiple troopers with guns at the ready and a few lesser couerls with pelts of white were gathered, in case any un-demonic dominion legionnaires should have the testicular fortitude to attack the MAs with only their weapons.

In time, someone did step forth - but he wasn't in dominion colours. A bespectacled young man with asymmetrical brown hair, dressed in a golden jacket, black pants, and a heavy pair of black boots - common wear of imperial scientists. Yet where imperials would wear black pauldrons with silver trim and stripes, this one wore gold pauldrons, with an indent on the inner edge lined with a gear. On his hip was sheathed a katana, and as he stepped forward, he reached up and shifted his glasses by the bridge.

"Shame on you, Ace - just charging in like that."

As soon as his finger parted from his frames, a glow of dominion magic appeared in it; the soldiers all drew their rifles. "A demon!" Gunshots came an instant too late; with a shimmer of magic, the young man vanished, and the shots passed through where he had been too late. The couerls charged forward as the MAs made to turn around, only to be raked with sword slashes from an unseen blade; the foot troopers fell to similar blows, and then one, two, three Colossi had their legs severed, causing them to collapse.

The officer swept his flamethrower before him - and thus was unprepared for the Firaga MIS to strike him from behind. A figure circled the downed machine; the young man, slowly fading back in as his invisibility magic faded out.

"Joke's on you."

He thrust his katana forward, penetrating the Airmobile Suit and the heart of the officer inside it. Then, once he didn't recognize the officer's face as one he'd met a few seconds ago, he drew the katana out, stepping towards the Militesi couerls, whose coats were mostly unstained by their own blood.

"Small coincidences, you said," he mused, wiping his blade clean on the couerl's pelt. "Then you went and talked to the others, so they knew that Ace was alright. Gave me a Lindzei-damned heart attack before Mother told me it wasn't one of Gala's blades that struck you down." He sheathed his blade, and reached up to push his glasses back into place. "You go and summon the Lord Wyrmking over Judecca to keep the other two safe, just because Mother won't. They might look like small coincidences to you and me, but that's because we've seen it happen a few hundred million times."

He raised his hand towards the bodies, and crimson trails connected them to him; then he closed his fist, and the bodies burst into showers of blood as their phantoma flew to his grip.

"I'd better not get hell from you about this much."

* * *

**14:48**

"Excuse me?  _I_ want to drive."

Ace punched the pilot in the nose with his right hand before slamming a hard blow with his left hand that snapped the trooper's neck away from him. He quickly seized the guy's chin and slammed one more blow into the guy's neck with the knuckles on his right hand; once he was limp, Ace put the back of the chair between him and the pilot before harvesting his phantoma, then circled around and wiped the blood off the console.

"Here we go..." A switch was labelled  _CRYSTAL JAMMER_ ; as Ace flicked it, the noises of the MA reduced in volume significantly. The field must have been hard enough on the MA's power source that one couldn't just have it automatically on whenever the MA was running.

Sure enough, Kasumi came over the COMM as he was removing Eight's gloves.  _"Class Zero, do you copy? The jammer field is down, but the MA is still active. What's going on?"_

"Class Zero here," Ace confirmed, holding a card against the knuckle dusters to cause them to vanish. "I'm **in** the MA with the jammer. Sorcery's research after the liberation said the jammer targets the opposing Crystal; I'm pretty sure I can aim this thing at the White Tiger. Think that would shut down everyone's MAs?"

 _"Even if it did, the MA is too near to the enemy,"_ Kasumi proclaimed.  _"If it's still intact, an imperial pilot could switch it back to targeting the Vermilion Bird and we'd be back at square one. It's not worth the risk."_

With a sigh, Ace killed the power in the MA and started out the back. "Alright. Can I get a Mega Flare on the west bank?"

Crimson dominion light appeared around the MA behind him, marking that it was and a beam of light slammed into it, ripping the machine to pieces that promptly exploded and sent the pieces flying.  _"Don't suppose you forgot to get out of that thing first?"_ asked Tachibana over the COMM; there was jest in his voice, but it was still a bitter comment.

"Frick you very much," Ace reprimanded, flipping the bridge off over his shoulder without turning. "I'm alive and well."

 _"Jammer destroyed,"_ Kasumi announced over the COMM.  _"Please resume your advance."_

* * *

**14:51**

"That much?"

Kurasame nodded. "Yes. The dominion has never seen a summoner superior to Lady Caetuna. Watch carefully."

The Vermilion Bird Secundus l'Cie stepped to the edge of the cliff on Big Bridge's east bank; her motions were composed, even despite having recently been cut off from the Crystal whose will she served. "The time is upon us." Then, turning to Kurasame and the cadets; "A query for you. Do you, above all else, swear fealty to the Vermilion Bird Crystal, and obey its will?"

Without hesitating, Kurasame bowed. "Absolutely," he confirmed. "All defenders of the Vermilion Bird standing on this battlefield have sworn that oath."

There was a moment of quiet; then Cateuna turned around. "Very well," she proclaimed. "Then... let us now proceed with reverence."

She raised her hand, and the brand of a l'Cie manifested below her bust as she turned it so her palm faced the sky. Above her hand manifested a crystal shape, a pillar with what seemed to be flower petals closed above it; Kurasame fell to one knee, and held his hand towards her, and every cadet gathered there did the same. "Send your magic energy to Lady Caetuna!" the Ice Reaper commanded, and spell power began to well upon the cliff.

"Freed of the wedge, the gears start to turn..."

The petals of her crystal opened, and light began to gather above the bud.

"...one by one by one."

* * *

**15:23**

"You've gotta be shitting me."

Class Zero had been tasked with taking down the empire's giant turret - a set of massive cannons firing over Big Bridge, powered by something going on inside their main base on the fore of which they were mounted. Ace was most displeased when he stepped into said base and discovered that said 'something' was  _Qun'mi Tru'e_ , who was standing there waiting for him.

In response to his comment, Qun'mi only sighed. "Oh, tell me you saw this coming," she reprimanded.

"Really?" Ace asked. "There's really nothing you can do?"

The eyes of Qun'mi's tiger mask lit up as her brand manifested before her. "I am l'Cie, you stupid demon," she spat. "I do as the Crystal commands. You're a defender of the Vermilion Bird. I'm a warrior of the White Tiger."

Ace sighed. "Better the devil you know," he admitted, drawing his cards.

"If you're expecting that wounded kitten who crawled out of Ninetail in the perystilium arena," Qun'mi warned, "you're in for a world of disappointment."

She raised her hand and swept it forward, and four lifts rose up around the base - on each was a Colossus, and green energy sparked around them before they turned their cannons towards Ace. Missiles were launched towards him; Ace quickly hurled a card at each of them, causing them to detonate in mid-flight, before Qun'mi charged at him. He vanished into an array of cards before her claws could strike him, leaving her swinging at air, but she promptly turned back around with a heel kick leaving him leaping away. The MAs made to fire at him again, but Ace hurled a card at each; Jack's katana cut one Colossus' leg, Queen's longsword cut another's, Nine's spear soared through a third, and Cinque's mace crushed the last.

His magic pushed him to vanish away from another swing of Qun'mi's claws; he hurled a hand of cards towards her head, and when she ducked under them they soared towards the weapons he had already manifested. Another card was thrown at her legs, but she leapt over it with her legs crossed to avoid either of them getting entangled; yet when she made to charge him again, Sice's scythe manifested from the fallen card, striking at one leg while the other was in the air and leaving her stumbling. Ace charged at her before she could right herself, driving a foot into her shoulder and leaping from it to throw her to the ground; he landed upon the railing and leapt into the open area of the base, turning in midair and hurling another hand at her.

Qun'mi beat those cards aside with a swipe of her claws, and the eyes of her mask lit up again. Mechanical movement around Ace caused him to turn; the MAs were unpiloted, controlled by Qun'mi's gift as a Secundus, and now they were repairing themselves as she vaulted the railing to chase after him.

"Dammit, how's Bahamut?" he demanded into the COMM.

He vanished into his cards as Qun'mi tried to land on him, tossing one at the scythe he'd formed and then hurling another at the l'Cie. When she swung her claws at it, this one changed; her fingers hooked on a bowstring, and Ace quickly vaulted over her, seizing the body of Trey's bow and bringing the string into her neck. She struggled against it for a moment before lashing her claws down the string, snapping it; Ace landed a kick on her back before she could right herself, then leapt aside as the MAs aimed missiles at him, letting them blast against the l'Cie controlling them.

The dominion's targeting magic appeared around one of the Colossi; then a Mega Flare slammed into it, tearing it into irrevocable pieces. As the remainder fired at Ace, he tossed a card at the string-snapped bow, then vanished into his cards before Qun'mi could claw him; another Mega Flare destroyed another MA as he clambered atop the storage crates and vaulted the railing to the upper level. Qun'mi leapt after him, and two claw swings hit air before a third Mega Flare struck down the third MA, leaving not enough for her power to restore.

 _"You want that l'Cie shot down while we're aiming?"_ Tachibana asked over the COMM.

"She's a close-combatant and way too mobile," Ace warned.

He hurled a card straight at her mask; Qun'mi's claws moved forward as it changed form, seizing the mace by the head. "I'm sick of this f-"

Then gunshots sounded, and bullets slammed into her hands; she yelled, dropping the mace to find Ace holding a pair of revolvers. He ejected the magazine from one and kicked it at her; it bounced off her mask as he took aim, and when his next shot struck the clip, it  _blast_ , throwing her into the railing hard enough that she tumbled over most unpleasantly.

Ace glanced at King's guns. "You know, I mocked him for that idea," he muttered, moving both guns to one hand so he could draw a card in the other. He touched it to the revolvers to vanish them, then hurled another at Cinque's mace.

 _"The giant turret has been deactivated,"_ Kasumi announced over the COMM.  _"Lady Caetuna is preparing to summon! All units, evacuate immediately!"_

"A Verboten Eidolon," Ace recalled. "Something only a l'Cie can summon... and only with so much aid..." He turned towards the exit of the base. "Yeah, I don't want to be in front of that."

He charged out - and behind him, Qun'mi forced herself to rise, her mask fallen from her face. "This sucks..."

* * *

**16:05**

 "...Give me a frickin' break."

Several Ifrit-class Eidolons had been taken out on the west bank of Big Bridge; as Ace had stepped onto the bridge, he had also found numerous MAs destroyed such as to form an effective barricade. Climbing over them, he found out what had caused all this - someone was standing atop another barricade of broken MAs, and he was built like a _behemoth_ , covered in armour with a shield hooked on his back and a noticeable turtle face formed from his chestplate.

"Pillage... plunder..."

Light shone from beneath his chestplate, and shining chains manifested around the edge of the battlefield around him.

" _Leave nothing **in my wake!**_ "

He leaned back and spread his arms wide - the design of his chestplate meant this left the turtle's maw open, and from it emerged the handle and hilt of a massive blade. Ace watched in astonishment as the man seized the handle of the blade, drawing it from his chest - it was nearly as tall as he was, and almost as broad as his shoulders, and he promptly braced it over his shoulder.

"Give me a frickin'  _break_ ," Ace pleaded, drawing his card.

The Lorican leapt down.

Ace leapt down to face him.

And behind him, Qun'mi climbed the MA wreck, pinned within the chains that extended just past.

"Who the hell...?" She ducked back under the ridge, hardly believing what she was seeing. "Well, this sucks. First a Rubrumite demon, now a Lorican paladin? Where did this guy come from?" Her eyes widened. "Wait... the Crystal's obligated to have l'Cie. Is he-?"

She looked over the ledge again in time to see the Lorican bring his blade down; Ace narrowly leapt aside, and Qun'mi was terrified to see the brand of a l'Cie manifest beneath the impact, just momentarily, before vanishing again.

"He's l'Cie," she realized. "He's a  _Primus_..." She glanced back towards the Militesi camp before turning around with a groan. "He can't still be serving his Focus. That means the Marshal can't use him."

With a growl, she vaulted the barricade as the paladin managed to seize Ace by the neck. He was drawing back his sword to bring it down when Qun'mi charged forward, driving her claws into the Lorican's sword hand; he barely managed a "What?" before she tackled Ace from his hand, the two tumbling across the bridge before Qun'mi tossed him away.

He righted himself with a yell of exasperation. "Now?"

Qun'mi stood up, equal displeasure clear on her unmasked face. "Better the devil you know!" she threw back at him.

The Lorican made to bring his blade down on her; and surprising Ace, she leapt aside and twisted a kick into his arm, using it as a foothold to vault over him and seizing the shield on his back. It was affixed such that he was expected to brandish it quickly, though he was doing no such thing; Qun'mi found it weighty, and didn't like to figure the odds of a non-Lorican non-l'Cie being able to so much as lift it. Ace's cards were earning no reaction, and he was covered in enough armour to make his blades or mace ineffective; Qun'mi promptly twisted into a spin, hurling the shield at the paladin's back. It had enough impact to make him stumble, but promptly tumbled through the air in a direction that threatened to plummet off the bridge.

Ace hurled a card at it, causing it to vanish, then leapt aside from the Lorican's blade before hurling it at Qun'mi. The White Tiger caught the card, and when it vanished and the shield reappeared, she seized the handle on the interior of the shield and slammed its surface into the paladin's sword arm. He stumbled away, and his turning around earned him the  _edge_ of it to his other arm. He turned into a spin, lashing his blade into her shield and leaving her spinning so hard she hit the ground with her shield against her chest, far enough away that his subsequent downward swing was avoidable just by parting her legs.

She promptly moved the shield over his blade, so that when he lifted the weapon he flung it - and her - over his head. She twisted in the air, hurling the shield down so that the edge struck the paladin's pauldron; it left him stumbling, and the shield rolled towards Ace. The red demon stopped it, tried to lift it, and immediately regretted it; as the Lorican charged him, he rolled the shield forward at an angle, leaving it under his foot in the middle of one step and causing him to stumble with his blade coming down on the ground; Qun'mi immediately charged him, and as he started to rise she grabbed the ridges of his helmet and leapt over him, pulling it free of his head.

With an unarmoured portion that wasn't carrying something that could wreck his weapons, Ace hurled a card at the paladin's head; it changed mid-flight, and Cinque's mace slammed into his face.

As he hurled another card to vanish it, he was terrified to realize that it had barely  _stunned_ the Lorican; he hadn't even stumbled, and now he spat at the ground, a bloodied tooth staining Big Bridge as he glared at the Agito Cadet.

"...I'm sorry."

Then a ringing  _crash_ as Qun'mi slammed the shield into the back of his head; that had enough force to at least knock him to the floor, and the glowing chains around them vanished. The White Tiger l'Cie gave an exasperated yell as the path to either side cleared, dropping the shield and letting it clatter to a stop.

Ace breathed a sigh of relief. "That sucked."

"You suck," Qun'mi spat, angry that he'd stolen her line.

He had no chance to retaliate before a clatter caught his ears; the Lorican's shield started to tremble on the ground, and soon the bridge was shaking around them. Ace turned towards the dominion camp, realizing what was going on. "Lady Caetuna's summoning!"

Qun'mi had no chance to stop him before he dashed off the bridge, clambering over the MA heap; as she contemplated chasing after him, she heard Qator over the speakers in her collar.  _"The l'Cie is about to attack! The magic will rattle the atmosphere, but if we withstand this, the way will be open!"_

"Withstand?" Qun'mi glanced after the red demon. "A summoning that only a l'Cie can..." She turned back around. "You're insane!"

She charged back after him, vaulting the barricade on that side.

* * *

**16:21**

"Bearing the chains forged by my acts, buried beneath the formless howl..."

The cadets on the cliff behind Caetuna were starting to collapse; as each did, a sphere that Class Zero would recognize as phantoma emerged from them, soaring towards the crystal flower in the l'Cie's grip. Caetuna herself was showing the toll of the summoning, blood flowing from beneath one eye like bloody tears.

Kurasame could feel his life starting to flee him, yet still fought to stay awake all the same. "Lady... Catetuna..." His breath grew heavy, and his free hand reached up, pulling the mask from his face in a futile effort to give him more air. "Crystal... guide...  _the **dominion!**_ "

Power surged out from his body, and as the last of the phantoma flowed to Caetuna's crystal flower, blood began to pour from the corner of her lips.

"May I emerge... in the heavens, sounding the cry... of eternal torment!"

Magic flooded out from the dominion camp, spreading across the skies over the chasm that Big Bridge spanned; a blinding backdrop against which Qun'mi, charging towards the imperial camp with all the haste of a l'Cie, seemed a figure of darkness. The earth crumbled beneath her, and she leapt from piece to piece; as she landed upon solid ground once again, that entity - what the red demon had called a 'Verboten Eidolon' - began to rise behind her, encrusted in stone as she charged where Qator was stationed.

Once the Eidolon was towering so tall as to stand equal with the Militesi border fortress, its upper surface level with the blanketing light, something emerged from behind it. It was a _castle roof;_  it arced over and slammed into the peak of the creature, and the stone fell away, revealing the Verboten Eidolon for what it was - a towering citadel, to which nothing in Orience could compare. Its foremost ridge, just beneath that roof, began to shine as Qun'mi neared General Qator's MA, the Gabriel.

Her brand manifested, her eyes were lit in green, and she seized the arm of the MA to stop herself; and her power as a Secundus l'Cie coursed through the MA, turning its anti-magic shield into a barrier between it and the Eidolon.

Divine Light shone from Alexander, washing across the western bank; everything the light crossed was petrified, turned black, and shattered. Soldiers, MAs, weapons, structures; the light bombarded Milites' entire force, reducing it all to nothing. For a moment, the onslaught seemed to subside, but then a single, linear beam emerged from directly before Alexander, seared forward, and then rose up to part the clouds - and a  _wave of light_ extended where the beam had crossed, carving a scar into the earth and shattering the border fortress well beyond the imperial camp.

When the light finally faded, Alexander only existed for a moment more before its body, too, was wrapped in darkness; it crumbled away, vanishing into the chasm from whence it had risen.

Qun'mi's brand vanished, and her grip on Qator's MA faltered as the anti-magic barrier vanished; she fell to her knees, panting so heavily that she was glad her mask was lost. "This... sucks..."

"How unbelievable..." The interior of Gabriel was sparking from being overclocked by Qun'mi's power for the duration of the onslaught, yet Qator barely noticed even the sparks that struck his arms. "So I am to survive after this vast reprisal?" He shook his head. "But... this defeat is too great to overcome!"

He seized the controls, and Gabriel began to rise; an exhausted Qun'mi forced herself to stand, leaping upon one of the MA's arms, and it ascended into the air and soared back towards Milites.

* * *

**16:29**

"Pulse's grace..."

Ace had been amazed enough by what Alexander had done; yet what he found on the cliff terrified him. He had been sprinting towards where the l'Cie had been positioned, yet as he arrived now, he could not for the life of him remember why. Yet he suspected it had to do with someone who had been there; for lying across the cliff's surface were the bodies of countless cadets, commanders, and soldiers.

One, in a dark ensemble and with noticeable scarring across the lower half of his face, was still upright - yet it was only out of inertia, for his eyes were dead.

Caetuna herself was still standing at the cliff's edge, her attention on the bodies; yet now she turned to face Ace. Blood streaked down from one eye, the corner of her mouth, and the edge of her brow; she looked weary, and as she spoke, her voice was faded, as though she had not the strength to speak louder. "A cadet, yes?"

"Lady Caetuna?" Ace's gaze drifted over the victims before turning to her. "This... is the cost of summoning a Verboten Eidolon?"

The l'Cie nodded quietly. "A query for you... Do you, above all else, serve the Vermilion Bird Crystal, and obey its will?"

Ace could not bring himself to respond, his gaze falling.

"You need not answer," Caetuna assured him. "Your silence speaks volumes. And yet, I see, it is not for yourself that you do fight." She turned away, and when he heard the faint cry of a blade against its sheath, he raised his gaze to find a knife in her grip.

"After a life of eons... it is finally over. I can at least see... my destiny."

Her fingers released the blade, and it turned in the air, impaling itself on the cliff's edge.

"I feel so... so cold..."

Light wrapped Caetuna's body, and Ace was forced to close his eyes against the shine; when it faded, she was encased in crystal.

The scarred figure finally fell to the earth, drawing Ace's attention. After a long moment, he stepped forward. There was a Knowing Tag hanging around his neck; his fingers closed on it, and he pulled it free, glancing at the name upon it.

_Kurasame Susaya._

Then, a cracking; Ace turned to Lady Caetuna, and was terrified to see her crystallized form shatter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've stopped myself from involving Ace's Wild Card attack just because of what I'm doing with the rest of the class' weapons. If I had him teleporting to his cards in the same story as I've got those cards transforming into other weapons, people would accuse me of turning him into Noctis.


	9. Tem.-Cae., 842

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #weareintheendgamenow
> 
> I have a huge and shameless headcanon that I'm gonna drop near the end of this chapter, and I am absolutely not ashamed.

**Tem. XXV, 842  
09:42**

"I believe this is our first meeting."

Ace, Machina, and Rem had found Classroom Zero entered by an individual they were not expecting; a woman from the Consortium of Eight. "My name is Miotsk. I am the Cadetmaster. I have come here today with a message for Class Zero."

This much was to be expected; Ace was taken to understand that the commanding officer for Class Zero was among the casualties at Big Bridge.

"I thought of assigning you a new commander," the cadetmaster explained, "but with the uniqueness of your class, I'm going to leave things as they are. Henceforth, you will receive marching orders directly from the MOOGLE assigned to this class."

This was a surprise; Machina and Rem had fully expected to have a new CO assigned to them. Emina Hanaharu, at least, had voiced her displeasure in having no cadets of her own.

"I have two campaigns for you," the cadetmaster continued. "The capture of the Concordian capital, then the Militesi capital. First, you will take down the Azure Dragon in Concordia. May the Crystal guide you."

She stepped out of the classroom, and once the door had closed behind her, the three classmates exchanged surprised glances.

"Well," Ace mused. "That happened."

"I suppose it did, now." Rem's surprise was plain on her voice.

They stepped out into the back garden, intending to pay their respects to their late commander; yet all three of them halted at the cemetery gates. Something about it didn't seem... right. Like they'd been advised against it, but couldn't recall the advice itself. After a long moment, Ace stepped towards one of the benches in the garden, sitting down with a sigh; Machina and Rem exchanged glances before taking seats on the other bench.

Silence; unpleasant, awkward silence.

Machina was the one to break it. "So, um... they say you saw what happened to Lady Caetuna," he mused, turning to Ace.

"Yeah. I did."

"What was it?" Rem asked. "I mean, they talk about sublimation like it's distinct from crystal stasis, but..."

"I saw her turn to crystal," Ace explained. "Then I saw one of the people who had died around her still had his Knowing Tag, and I went to pick up. When I turned back around, Lady Caetuna's crystal was starting to crack. It didn't take long for it to shatter."

"Shatter?" Machina echoed.

Ace nodded. "Yeah. None of the fragments were larger than my fist. They say the shards were taken to the dominion catacombs."

Rem took a heavy breath. "I always thought crystal stasis meant l'Cie didn't really die," she mused. "Their bodies were fine, we still remember them... I thought that one day they'd wake up again, if the Crystal needed them. I figured that's why the dominion preserved them in the catacombs. But to break into pieces like that..."

"...makes you wonder if the ones who don't... ever do come back," Machina finished.

* * *

**Gel. XIII, 842  
13:13**

"Okay... the scythe." Machina picked up the card with an image of a weapon better for intimidation than combat. "Who the heck uses a scythe?"

Ace set down a card showing a girl with a spiky silver ponytail. "Sice," he replied. "She relished in battle. With a swing of that blade, she could harvest the malice of those who meant to hurt her, and turn it into a dark energy. Terrorized anyone who saw her in action."

Machina set the scythe down over Sice's image as Rem asked, "And what was she like?"

"When you picture the reaper," Ace asked, "what comes to mind?"

"Oh, you know," Machina admitted. "Creepy black eyes with glowing rings, pale skin with purple blood dripping down, doesn't feel it when you put a sword in him-"

Rem smacked him as Ace shook his head. "I mean, what kind of  _attitude_?"

"Condescension, mostly," Rem answered. "Thinking of humans as too fragile."

"Condescension was Sice's frickin' game," Ace confirmed. "She'd always snark that Mother had twelve of us so that we could keep each other company while she left us in the dust." He shook his head. "But if you caught her in a good mood, she'd always pick the words that inspired you to prove her wrong."

With a quiet nod, Rem picked up another card. "The bow," she asked. "Seems kind of unnecessary in the same deck as guns, it does."

Ace set down a card of a boy whose blonde hair masked most of his face. "Trey," he replied. "Arrows react a lot more to wind and weather. They fall at lot sooner when you aim them upward. He'd make sure they struck their mark, and often got them through more than one target."

Rem set the bow down on Trey's image as Machina asked, "What about off the field?"

"If he had one good look at Akademeia's teaching methods," Ace sighed, "he'd criticize all the classes for being too  _simplified_. Ask him something like 'What's the capital of Concordia', and he'd give you a detailed lecture on the history of the kingdom before he managed to say 'Mahamyuri'. You couldn't walk away from him without knowing more than you did when you walked up to him - if you could keep your eyes open."

"Sounds like Kazusa's kind of guy," Machina mused. Picking up another card. "The katana?"

Ace set down a card of a boy with coiffed blond hair. "Jack," he replied. "Slow and steady wins the race when it's a competition to count bodies. He would only move that thing once, and there would be a dead guy on the end of it. If someone got close enough to swing, he'd meet it on his own and cut them down."

Machina set the katana down over Jack's image as Rem asked, "Don't tell me he was hyperactive without it?"

"Not hyperactive," Ace admitted, "but definitely not half as serious. I'd only once seen him in a situation where he wasn't either cracking jokes or swinging his sword - and that was because he'd almost fallen out of an airship. You couldn't get him to take this place seriously if you tried."

"Interesting," Rem hummed. Picking up a different card; "A flute? I thought using music as a battle medium was reserved for the kind of people who'd end up in Class Twelfth."

Ace set down a card of a brunette girl with shoulder-length hair. "Deuce wasn't like that," he reprimanded. "And it's more effective than you'd think. It's kind of magical, actually; the notes form projectiles that home in on your targets, or pulses around you that hit like a staff."

Rem set the flute down over Deuce's image, thoughtful, as Machina asked; "Magical? Really?"

"I mean, using magic," Ace insisted, his face changing colour.

"Are you blushing?" Rem accused.

An unconvincing "No" came from Ace.

"You're blushing, you are," Rem reprimanded. "What, were you and her up to something?"

"Shut up."

* * *

**Sil. XII, 842  
23:58**

"Come in."

Curfew was long passed on Akademeia; cadets were expected to be in their beds, legionnaires, commanders, and tribunes had retired for the night, and each member of the Consortium of Eight had retreated into their own personal chambers. Such was it anomalous that Arecia Al-Rashia was still smoking in her office when a knock came on the door from Sorcery.

At her instruction, the door slowly opened, and a girl in a legionnaire's cloak stepped in, closing the door behind her.

Arecia set her cigarette holder against a frame upon her desk. "There's no one around to be suspicious of a cadet at this hour," she reprimanded. "Or is it something about wearing a hood while you're trying not to be noticed?"

A smile rose on the girl's face. "You wanted to see me, Mother?"

The archsorceress got to her feet. "Don't think I didn't notice what you did at Judecca," she warned.

"Of course not," the legionnaire insisted. "The Lord Wyrmking is your personal Eidolon. I had no illusions it would go unnoticed."

"And Joker's no mind for tactics," Arecia accused. "Was his little performance on the east bank of Big Bridge your idea?"

"Was he wearing his old colours again?" the girl protested.

"Well," Arecia admitted, "he had dominion pauldrons."

The two shared a quiet giggle.

"Why would you summon Bahamut in my place?" Arecia asked.

Tiz sighed. "I won't deny it," she proclaimed. "I didn't trust you to invoke the summoning yourself. Not when it was Machina and Rem."

"Had you trusted me, it would have gone betrayed," the archsorceress conceded. "The Azure Warden would have retreated if she believed them dead, and the battle over Judecca would have had no significant change before Big Bridge was taken. There was no need for the duel between dragons."

"Yet time and again, you've seen the duel take place," Tiz accused. "Always because it was those twelve. You make it sound like you have left Machina and Rem dead, even though Ace asked you to keep them alive."

The smoke drifting from the tip of Arecia's cigarette faded out, and she said nothing.

A bitter smile rose on Tiz's face. "Of course you would," she realized. "They're among the abandoned. You didn't remove them from the spiral, so now they're just part of the background." She started to pace before Arecia's desk. "You don't want them - you decided they were unnecessary. You just want them to influence Ace. You want to see how he changes by spending time with them as outsiders, so you might get an idea of how the others will. See if it changes anything with the gate." She shook her head. "But that means you need to know how he reacts to them  _dying_ , too. So you'd let them get struck down, if you thought it would..."

Her paces halted.

Arecia's gaze narrowed. "Tiz?"

"Yule." Tiz slowly turned to face the archsorceress again. "Gala deceived you on Yule. But he just... sent a message in the chancellor's name. You should have known it wasn't Khalia. Did you-?"

With a sudden movement, Arecia slammed her hand against the surface of her desk. "Don't go there," she threatened. "You know I would not hurt them before the thunder sounds."

"...I'm sorry," Tiz begged, bowing slowly. "I should have minded my words."

Arecia stood tall again, and when she spoke, her tone was much less kind. "You should go."

"Of course, Mother."

* * *

**Cae. III, 842  
00:10**

"Gala was right. She **is** growing attached."

Lean and Tiz were sitting atop the wing of an ancient, buried airship at the southernmost point of the Veill Desolands - the  _Setzer_ , whose decrepit interior had been dubbed the Silent Key since it had been rediscovered in 421, though none of dominion or empire had ventured very deep, for the iron giants that inhabited the vessel. Every few spirals, Class Zero would find this ship, traverse its interior until they discovered the flight deck, and see it fly again from Sileomens to Tempus Finis; for the others, it would remain in the earth until the skies turned red and the ocean was dyed black. Tiz had a fondness for the Silent Key, and Lean had been unsurprised when she had asked to meet him here; they were out of their legionnaire cloaks, he in his scientist garb and she in her cadet's uniform.

Tiz shook her head at Lean's comment. "It's more than that," she mused. "During the last few years - from the moment they're under her purview, until the thunder sounds - she lets herself be human. I think... she's starting to grow weary of the spiral. They're both starting to change from so many failures." Her gaze rose to the starry sky. "With the right provocation, she might be convinced to end the spiral entire.

"I'm sure Diva will be pleased to hear that," Lean accused.

"Oh, but we don't know that," Tiz accused.

Diva was the third divine servant to have purview over Orience; just as Arecia served Pulse, and Gala served Lindzei, Diva was a proxy for Etro. Yet much like the goddess she served, Diva did not have so bold a power as Arecia and Gala, and so was her role so much less. The hearts of the living were chaos, and the soul of a unique individual would be maintained so long as that individual was remembered; but with the advent of the Crystals, remembering the dead was impossible, except in cases of extreme will such as with the Ice Reaper. Diva was tasked with recording by divine means the souls of those forgotten since the Crystals began to shine; and upon the spiral's end and the beginning of the next, each soul would be reborn again.

Whether she would welcome the end of her task, and the sleep that came with it, a mere locus could not dare to know.


	10. Cae. VII, 842

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna do Capturing the Imperial Capital, but there's really nothing I can add to that and the same timeframe logic from Chapter 4 applies to that return trip.

**02:52**

"Ordered to remain on standby until further notice, no further notice given until we go talk to him in person, whereupon we're told off for being _late_ , given a rant about how we haven't done anything, deployed by air late into the operation, sent to fight the guy with the anti-magic MA, and then expected to  _ride_ back to the dominion..."

Ace dismounted his chocobo at the end of the bridge to Akademeia, and Machina and Rem followed suit; all of them were violently saddle-sore after riding from the Azurr District to the Rubrum Region. "I can't wait to see the commandant's face when we walk in, still alive and well," Machina groaned in response to Ace's summation.

"Yeah," Ace agreed. "If he tries to give Mother hell after this much, he's gonna get it from the whole damned dominion."

"What did Dr. Arecia even do to him, anyways?" Machina asked.

"Lindzei if I know," Ace sighed. "But unless he's been on the receiving end of Vermilion Bird testing, it's really not-"

Something fell to the ground behind them; the two turned around to find Rem had collapsed on the bridge.

"Rem?"

"Rem!" Machina dashed up to her side, slowly lifting her head. "What's wrong? Rem? Rem!"

There was no response; Ace started towards her before he saw it.

Red. The waters on either side of the bridge were turning deep red, darkening with every passing moment. It expanded across the oceans surrounding Orience, and as it started to meet the horizon the still-dark skies above them began to ignite - not with the bright of dawn, but a bloody crimson like fresh blood had stained all the world.

Machina picked Rem up in his arms, glancing around. "What's going on?"

Then, movement - something was moving beneath the water, and a figure began to walk out of the ocean. Clad in armour, dark silver plates still dripping from the bloody seas; a face was sculpted on the fore of its helmet, resembling human but defiantly not, and in its grip was a sword with a curved blade. It was not alone, for on the shore to either side of the bridge emerged more and more, until a legion of sixteen stood upon the shore; and at that time, they turned to face Akademeia.

A roar of waves drew Machina's attention; behind Akademeia, out of the black oceans, emerged a massive palace, soaked in blood; upon a stage of obsidian, it floated above the ocean, draped in a hellish red light.

And each warrior before them spoke in an identical monotone - forming a voice like thunder.

" **We have arrived.** "

* * *

**13:13**

"We did missions for the dominion. The consortium decreed that they needed something done, and we followed their instructions. And we're 'responsible' for this, just because the instructions were kept hidden?"

Ace was seated in Classroom Zero, trying to blot out the accusations coming over the COMM. After a long moment, the doors to the classroom opened; he turned to find Machina stepping in, looking displeased. "How's Rem?"

"Well, the good news is that Medical is more concerned about her body than her cape," Machina admitted, taking the seat on the other end of the desk Ace was seated before. "They ran diagnostics and told anyone who called her a demon to get out."

"Alright," Ace mused. "And the bad news?"

"They can't do anything for her," Machina replied. "They said..." He shook his head. "It didn't make sense. They said her... phantoma was weakened."

Ace started.

Machina turned to him. "You know what that means?" he asked. "What is phantoma, anyways?"

"...Souls," Ace forced out. "Phantoma is human souls."

"What?" Machina couldn't believe his ears. "You mean... this whole 'harvesting' thing we've been doing is...?"

"Gathering the souls of fallen enemies," Ace confirmed. "When numerous phantoma is gathered in one place, it creates powerful changes - enough to refine magic the dominion over." He shook his head. "Our job was to gather it... because a l'Cie can only go where the crystal says."

"A l'Cie?" Machina echoed. "You mean the Vermilion Bird l'Cie can do this?"

"The Secundus l'Cie can," Ace confirmed. "When Lady Caetuna summoned Alexander, there were thousands of dead on the cliff where the sublimated. And there wasn't phantoma in any of them. I think it was consumed by the Verboten Eidolon."

Quiet draped the classroom.

"...So her soul is weak," Machina realized. "Small wonder they can't do anything for her." He turned back to Ace. "So what do we do? You and me?"

Ace got to his feet. "Let's check Central Command," he mused. "Maybe someone's gathered information on these Rursus."

Machina followed as he made his way out of the Classroom; and just outside the door to the garden, Arecia Al-Rashia breathed a smoky sigh. In every spiral past, she'd had words for Class Zero at this time... but in this spiral, defiled and derailed for a year now, she knew her words would do nothing.

"In all things, there is meaning," she told herself. "In all things, mourning will end."

* * *

**13:16**

"Hey there, guys!"

Ace was surprised to find Naghi in Central Command. "What are you doing in the war room at a time like this?" he asked.

"I'm here  _because_ it's a time like this!" Naghi protested. "We're in trouble - the chancellor's missing!"

"What!?"

"It's like... how can he leave us during this crisis, right?" Naghi prompted. "I can't contact the consortium, and I can't even get a hold of Dr. Arecia!"

"Mother, too?" Ace exclaimed.

Naghi nodded. "At first I thought the Rursus got 'em," he admitted, "but then I realized I still remember them, so they must be alive."

Machina shook his head. "But... no consortium, no chancellor... who's leading the dominion?"

"That's the problem," Naghi declared. "No one. The chain of command is completely shot, so I thought I'd at least step take over here."

"So, what's the situtation?" Ace asked.

"Bad." Naghi was a shoo-in for biggest understatement of 842. "Those Rursus things are attacking all over Rubrum. The cadets who went to fend 'em off are helpless against them. A lot of 'em are dead."

"Agito Cadets?" Machina exclaimed. "How?"

Naghi nodded. "From what I've heard, it looks like the Rursus' blades harm phantoma in living people."

Ace's gaze fell. "We can't heal them?"

"You can see why we lost so many," Naghi admitted. "Situation's not much better elsewhere anywhere else, either. Dragons and dracoknights in Concordia are falling by the thunder. MA pilots in Milites are getting shot down. Nations and conquest don't mean a steaming tauricorn turd anymore; everyone in Orience will be happy if we see Ignismens."

"We have to do something," Machina proclaimed. "We can't just-"

_Silence._

_Abruptly, sound stopped reaching Ace's ears, replaced with an ethereal howl; his vision was flooded with darkness, blotting out the war room. When he could see again, he wasn't in Central Command; he was standing in a massive, round chamber, and there was something visible before him._

_A towering crystal in vibrant vermilion._

I seek a strong heart, worthy to be a l'Cie.

A query: wilt thou become a l'Cie, and protect me, the Vermilion Bird?

_"L'Cie?" Ace could barely believe what he was hearing. "You want me to... protect you?" His gaze fell. "But... if it means I can fight off the Rursus... if I can protect everyone...!"_

_He set his hand over his chest, and in it appeared eleven cards - those bearing the faces of his brothers and sisters._

_"Do it!"_

And then, the Crystal's chamber vanished; Ace was lying on the floor of the war room. Machina was knelt at his side, a hand on his shoulder, and Naghi was standing over him. Relief was plan on Machina's face. "Ace! Thank Pulse, I thought you were-"

"No..." Ace slowly pushed himself to his feet. "That wasn't... anything like what happened with Rem."

"What did happen?" Naghi asked.

In response, Ace's eyes were lit with a crimson glow; Machina and Naghi both pulled back as the crimson brand of a l'Cie appeared over Ace's right hand.

* * *

**19:19**

Six hours.

Ace had fought the Rursus out of the courtyard, and was currently hovering just above the bridge of Akademeia. He had been a l'Cie for six hours; wings of vermilion fire burned from his back, keeping him aloft. The weapons of his siblings soared at his direction as would his cards, sparing him the need to transform them in mid-flight; phantom hands filled Eight's gloves, phantom fingers pulled the triggers on Cater and King's guns, drew arrows on the string of Trey's bow, phantom lips played notes on Deuce's flute. The Rursus continued to advance on him endlessly; he stood upon the shore all the same, refusing to back down, refusing to let the Vermilion Bird fall.

Every enemy took more and more of his blows before it fell, than had the last.

Six hours. When Qun'mi had arrived with her crystal jammer, and cut off the people of Akademeia from the Vermilion Bird Crystal, it had taken barely six hours for Ace to drive her off. When he had infiltrated the Steelworks, intent on destroying the Brionac prototype that could propel Ultima Bombs halfway across Orience, less than six hours had passed between Ace arriving in the cargo of the Striker Transport, and Concordia invoking the Fabula Pact as he dueled with Nimbus. When he had been deployed to Big Bridge, and tasked with enabling Lady Caetuna to summon the Verboten Eidolon, it had not required six hours from his leaping into the fray to see Alexander appear.

But six hours after being branded as a l'Cie, the Rursus continued to march.

As his weapons soared forth again, his magic drove him to move; he vanished into an array of cards, reappearing a short distance closer to Akademeia than he had begun, and found in the air, shortly behind where he had been stationed, a figure in armour. It was a different armour than the Rursus he faced - darker still, more in line with what might be forged for a human to wear, and giving a more muscled figure. The helmet did not bear any visage resembling a human's; winglike crests formed skyward horns, and insectoid eyes turned to level on Ace.

Ace knew that armour; it had slain his brothers and sisters, in Yule of 841. "You...!"

_So, it is not having many that chokes the tide, and keeps the gate from being pried open. It is having one._

Where had he heard those words? He had not dreamed them.

With a yell of fury, Ace swung his hand forward, and the weapons of Class Zero made to converge on the armoured murderer from all directions. Yet as they neared, the weapons seemed to  _fragment around him_ , and he was left standing in terror as the man in armour flew without moving, positioning himself over the water.

Something rose out of the cimmerian seas - a tapered arc atop two narrow pillars - at such an angle that he needed not move to reach his hand forward and seize the point where the curve ended.

Then his other hand joined it - and one of those pillars shifted. It was a  _blade_ , meant to fold towards its handle, and now it moved into position so that the man in armour was standing within a ring in the hilt of a titanic sword.

Ace raised his hand, and the cards that bore the faces of his brothers and sisters appeared in his grip.

The armoured man made to bring his sword down.

And deep within Akademeia, the Vermilion Bird Crystal shattered.

* * *

**XX:XX**

"And so the curtain closes on another spiral."

Tiz breathed a quiet sigh as the last of Class Zero fell. Lean came up behind her, setting a hand on her shoulder. "Think this was change enough to convince her?"

After a moment, Tiz shook her head. "No... I don't think that it was." She raised her gaze. "But it did prove that they have the potential to change something. In time, she'll try again. And maybe in _that_ spiral... it will be change enough."

Lean nodded. "I hope so. What I wouldn't give for the chance to see them rest in peace."

A smile rose on Tiz's face as she turned to him. "You think she might go far?"

He found himself smiling back as he turned to her. "You're the one who said she was letting herself be human."

They turned back to the horizon, watching from Pandæmonium as Orience fragmented around them.

"Until the next Tempus... sleep well."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You ever seen the concept art for Gala's weapon? That thing is huge. Like, I think that pool where the Rursan Arbiter is half-buried was originally designed when Gala was gonna be an important role, by how much room he would need to draw his sword.


	11. Cae. XXV, 841

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ultimately, decided I couldn't bring myself to end this with the Place of Final Judgement. Enjoy a subdued sweet little wrap-up.

**00:01**

The remote training facility of Akademeia, under the purview of the external branch of Sorcery, was nearly silent... or was at least trying to be. The date had only just turned on the morn of Yule, and the facility's residents - twelve children belonging to Rubrum's Agito Cadet Class Zero - were each trying to make their individual way to the lounge, where lay a festively-decorated tree and presents that they and their mother had gotten for each other.

Each child's goal was the same: to reach the lounge before Mother woke up. In the past, for as long as they had been at this facility together, none of them had succeeded; no matter how quietly they advanced, how early they were awake, Mother was always waiting for them with a smile. Some tried to blame this on the fact that there were a total of three entrances to the lounge, meaning that they always arrived in groups and therefore their stealth was mitigated.

But this year was different; for as eleven of the children arrived, in three groups as per the norm, they found the twelfth standing before Mother's usual seat, something in his hand.

"Ace?" Deuce's query drew his attention, and he turned to find his Classmates having arrived. "You got here before Mother did? Where is she?"

In response, Ace raised the item in his hand - a letter, though small enough to be mistaken for one of his cards from a quick look. "I got here and found this. Mother's back at the dominion. Said we could go ahead with Yule or wait for her to get back."

"Oh, come on, yo," Nine objected. "Like we're gonna do this without her."

"Agreed," Queen confirmed. "Let's head outside, we can welcome her back when we see her get close."

There was a chorus of further agreement, and the twelve of them made their way outdoors. The moonlight was shining down on the water around the facility, giving a lovely view; everyone found a comfortable seat - near enough to someone they could stand to make small-talk with and far enough away from those they couldn't to avoid annoying anyone - and waited for Mother's airship to arrive.

Over an hour passed as they waited, and some of the cadets were starting to feel drowsy when Ace noticed something in the water.

Was it a trick of the light? One second, he could have sworn he saw a strange distortion on the water's surface; the next, it was gone, and he was left staring at the point where it had been. Then, as he was trying to comprehend it, something else appeared in the sky; he shot to his feet, and his siblings turned to him as a familiar shape approached from the horizon.

An airship.

"Mother!"

It wasn't long before her personal cruiser had moored at the docks; a glow of dominion magic appeared beneath it, and Arecia stepped forward from it, smiling as her children rushed towards her.


End file.
